


5 Things Rick And Negan Tried To Beat The Heat + The One Thing That Actually Worked

by negickapologist (neganstonguething)



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: 5+1, AU, M/M, Young Rick, lots of really vulgar comedy, no zombies, young negan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 20:48:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11928987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neganstonguething/pseuds/negickapologist
Summary: No zombie AU: King County, GA. 110 degrees. Way too fucking hot for an air conditioner to go out. Negan and Rick aren't about to sweat it out for an entire season.My contribution for grimephilia on Tumblr's summer week. Enjoy!





	1. Ice Ice Baby

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm posting this on the last day of Summer Week, but I'll update it as it rolls out. Shouldn't take too long since the chapters are short, but y'all know how good I am to upholding promises like that lmao. 
> 
> This'll be a nice cute break from all the craziness I've got going on in my other fics though. I hope you all enjoy!

“Fuck, fuck, goddamn it, fucking Christ, what the fuck is _wrong_ with the world right now?”

“Calm down. You’re bein’ dramatic.”

No, Negan is most certainly fucking _not_ being dramatic. Being dramatic would be responding to The Happening with tears or throwing out an entire box of macaroni and cheese because it was cooked for sixty seconds too long.

Both of which, mind you, Rick the fucking hypocrite has done.

Negan and Rick have been living together for three and a half months, now. Midway through April, Negan had acted upon the split-second decision to move away from Virginia. Nearly thirty years old, he’d done little with his own life. His intention had been to start college again—get something under his belt to brag about—and move on.

He’d hopped onto a dating site, even if he had no intentions of actually hooking up with someone for the long-term. Somehow, using OkCupid to find a roommate had seemed safer than going through Craigslist. Or maybe more interesting. Negan hadn’t thought too deeply about it at the time.

He’d at least been upfront about it from the getgo. Had stated on his profile that he was not actually looking for a relationship, but a roommate with a bit of knowledge of the area they live in who wasn’t monumentally boring.

And somehow, that whole thing resulted in this. Looking back, Negan figures Rick is the last person he should have expected to actually open up an account on a dating site, let alone message the total stranger looking for someone to pay half his rent to move all the way from Virginia to where-the-fuck-ever. But for whatever reason, Rick had seen fit to trust him, so whatever. Honestly, Negan isn’t complaining. He’s got a place to stay, and a damn interesting roommate at the same time. And King County, Georgia isn’t the worst of places to settle into. He can ask Rick why he’d gotten on a dating site some other day.

The only sucky part is that they’re both broke as fucking jokes, and living in a cheap apartment that probably hasn’t seen repairs in years, and right in the dead of summer, the air conditioner decides to crap the fuck out on them.

Yeah, yeah, Negan knows where this is going. Blah, blah, ‘the landlord’s supposed to take care of repairs’, blee blah blah. You can trust him—he’s fucking tried. He and Rick both have. But a shoddy, cheap apartment stays shoddy and cheap because the landlord isn’t shitting out money left and right on faulty air conditioning units. The landlord’s words, not Negan’s.

At the very least, Negan’s got Rick to keep him company. Rick is a pretty interesting guy, all the way from his strange decision to accept Negan’s offer to his habits around the home. He almost looks like he doesn’t belong in his current situation. He’s a busy college student, passionate about agriculture and majoring in education. He works part time as a security guard at the police station, studies the rest of his time, and works on the apartment in what remaining free time he has. He doesn’t ever stop, and with how much he moves around, Negan only wants to relax more, in silent hopes that it somehow transfers over to Rick and convinces him to take it easy for five goddamn seconds.

Even though Negan’s intentions with Rick had never been romantic, he can’t deny his attraction to the guy. Negan’s very openly bisexual, and he’s not afraid to tell Rick how damn gorgeous he is, and Rick just takes it in stride. Nevermind the fact that the guy he’s rooming with introduced himself on a dating site, and nevermind the fact that it’s just the two of them in this shitty building together. Rick usually just regards Negan’s compliments on his eyes or ass or hair with a smile and a breathy ‘shut up’, before he gets back to work on whatever task he’s chopping away on at the time.

Negan wouldn’t go so far as to call it a crush, but if things were to for some reason take a turn for the romantic, he’s not going to complain.

At present, Rick is poised right in front of their air conditioner, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and a white tank top. He’s covered in sweat as he tinkers away at the big, clunky unit that’s positioned right beneath the window. It’s one of those awkward, long contraptions that they usually have in hotels—one that operates as both a heater and an air conditioner. Rick’s got the front of it pulled apart, and he looks more than just a little frustrated.

“Well, it’s not frozen over.” He grumbles, his head turned to regard Negan, who’s sprawled out on the couch not too far away. Negan can barely see him in the bottom of his periphery, as his gaze is focused on the ceiling.

“It’s the dead of fucking summer, Rick. Why would it be frozen?”

There’s a silence long enough that Negan actually does bother glancing down at his roommate. Rick is just staring at him like he said the stupidest thing in the world.

“You’ve never worked on an air conditioner, huh?” He deadpans, and Negan shrugs.

“Can’t say I’ve ever been in a position where I fucking needed to.”

Rick stares him down for a few more moments, before he shrugs and turns his focus back to the task at hand. He tinkers a little longer, and then lets out a groan of frustration and puts the cover back on the unit.

“We’re just gonna have to deal with it.” He groans. “Until we can afford to fix it.”

“Or get the fuck out of here.” Negan offers.

Rick rolls his eyes. “Takes money, Negan.”

“So we’ll save up.” He maybe a little too calm for the situation, considering he’s so hot that he’s dangerously close to having ball sweat, but whatever.

Rick doesn’t answer, though. He instead walks off and moves into the kitchen. Negan pivots and settles himself so that he’s watching Rick over the back of the couch.

“Look, it sucks to me too, alright? I’m sorry we can’t do shit about it.”

“Like hell, we can’t.” There’s a hint of determination in Rick’s voice. It’s one that makes Negan picture a dramatic cartoon montage of him hacking away at some experimental homemade air conditioner in the kitchen, complete with lightning and maniacal cackling.

But in the end, Rick emerges a few minutes later, looking scientifically unharmed, and disappears into his room. He comes back soon enough with shorts and a T-shirt on, scooping up his wallet as he goes.

“Where are you going?” Negan questions. He’s got his phone out now and is chipping away at some camp-building game his coworkers talked him into downloading recently.

“Gotta get some ice.” Rick answers, and when Negan lowers his phone to glance over him with sarcastic remark locked and loaded, he stops because the other man is smiling. It’s a different kind of smile. A curious one. “You should come with me. Y’know, beat the heat by gettin’ outside where there’s a breeze.”

\--- --- --- --- ---

Rick’s idea is great, in theory. In most cases, stepping out of the building where the one window in the living room just barely coughs air into the apartment would be ideal. Getting out where you can feel the breeze, no matter how minuscule it may be. It makes sense. And Negan was honestly on that shit as soon as the offer was given to him.

But the humidity is ridiculously high, and Negan almost feels as miserable as he did in the house. Despite that, it feels nice to go for a walk, and to get out of their place for a little bit.

They could be two smart guys and take one of their cars to the convenience store, but it’s not far away enough for the air conditioner to cool down fully, and Negan could use a little excitement.

Or well, as much excitement as going on a walk down the street with your roommate can get. The sun beats violently down upon them, and there isn’t a cloud in sight. Even the streets seem mostly uninhabited, and probably because it’s so goddamned hot out here.

Somehow though, Rick always keeps good company. Even though he and Negan are both miserable out in this fucking heat, they’re having a nice time. Rick shakes his head and laughs, elbowing Negan in the side when he makes some off-handed comment about Rick’s ass in his shorts, and then he even dares to add, “at least I _have_ an ass,” which makes Negan bark out a laugh because holy shit, Rick went there.

He thinks he couldn’t have picked a better roommate. Rick is sharp-witted, smart, determined, and level-headed. For a guy who spends most of his time buried up to his ears in his studies, he somehow knows how to have a good time aside from all of that.

And he’s never once questioned the fact that Negan doesn’t spend as much time with his nose buried in his textbooks as Rick himself does. He took on far fewer credit hours than Rick, though. This semester, he’s in general education classes, like English Composition I and General Psychology. Easy stuff, really. He can’t begin to imagine what kind of things Rick has got his mind wrapped around when he’s studying, honestly.

“So, ice.” Negan suddenly starts up, and he immediately regrets his word choice when Rick scoffs at him.

“Yeah, Negan. The stuff that used to be water before it got cold.”

“No, dipshit.” Negan raises an eyebrow. “I mean, we have ice trays in the freezer back home. Why the fuck are we going to get more? We can’t just sit in it, y’know. That’ll throw us into shock.”

“No shit?” Rick whistles, faking surprise. “Well, there go my plans for savin’ our evening.” He then grows serious again. “I have a plan, Negan. You’re just gonna have to trust me.”

“You’re lucky I do.” Negan laughs.

“No, _you’re_ lucky you do.”

Fucking facetious little bastard. The curve in Rick’s lips after he speaks does things to Negan. Makes his chest clench and his stomach feel a little sick.

\--- --- --- --- ---

Rick’s plan turns out to be something incredibly simple. It’s not an awful idea, though. Negan isn’t sure what made him come up with it, but they’ve now got a temporary, makeshift air conditioner poised in their living room. Their coffee table has been placed directly in front of the broken air conditioning unit, with a box fan positioned atop it. In front of the fan is a large bowl of ice. The ice is already melting and definitely won’t last long, but as the fan blows air off of it, it cools a small space in the living room.

Just enough space for Rick and Negan to function without feeling like they’re going to die of heat stroke. Negan has gone so far as to scoot the armchair over until it’s within blast range of the fan and its new cool air, and Rick is seated on the floor in front of the coffee table, studying in front of the breeze.

“I gotta hand it to you, Rick.” Negan muses. “Not fucking bad, man. I’m impressed by your quick thinking.”

Rick shakes his head. “It’s nothin’. Won’t work forever unless we plan on buyin’ ice all the time, but it’ll work for a couple of nights.”

“I’m not dying anymore.” Negan observes aloud. “So I’ll take it. I’ll just go have a word with the landlord again tomorrow. I’m good at words, you know.”

Rick looks away from his studies, resting his head in one of his hands. “Don’t get us kicked out of our apartment by bein’ an asshole, Negan.”

“Please, Rick.” Negan scoffs. “Don’t insult me. I fucking got this, okay?”

Rick cocks an eyebrow. “You’d better. I expect you to come back with him carrying a whole new unit to put on this wall.”

“You won’t be disappointed.” Negan smirks.


	2. Wet Blankets and Rollercoaster Rides

When Negan wakes up the next morning, it’s to more ridiculous summer heat. In the heat’s defense, the only air conditioner is in the living room, and very obviously not functioning at all. And even if it was, it’s still difficult to get the air to circulate from one room to all the others. It’s got two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom to cool. The heat doesn’t have any choice but to _be_ heat. But the landlord has the fucking choice to get his stupid ass in here and cool the fucking place down.

Seriously, how hard is it to purchase another cheap air conditioning unit and bring it here? Hell, Negan would be willing to install it, since he’s got Rick and his apparent air conditioner expertise to tell him how to do it right.

He rubs a hand over his sweaty forehead in frustration and then grumbles out a few curse words as he forces himself out of bed. He entertains the thought of maybe taking a shower before going to pay his landlord a visit, but decides that looking and smelling like his house has been a million fucking degrees would probably help his case a bit.

So he doesn’t shower. Instead, he spritzes a light amount of cologne onto the shirt he pulls over his shoulders and stumbles into some lightweight shorts. After brushing his teeth and spending a few minutes getting his hair into order, Negan exits to the living room.

He finds Rick sprawled out on the very armchair he’d been in the previous night, fan blowing right on his face. The ice he’d refilled three times the night before is yet again melted, the water rippling gently in front of the fan blast. Negan imagines it’s been dusting him with a cool breeze all night, so he’s probably been getting a pretty good night’s sleep.

Rick’s passed out either way, so Negan decides not to bother him with letting him know where he’s headed. He sneaks out the door, closes it as quietly as he can, and jogs down the stairs immediately outside of his apartment.

The landlord’s office is within the complex. All Negan has to do is go down a flight of stairs and cross the street. It’s just as shoddy and run-down as the rest of the place, but it’s pretty obvious what it is by the giant sign that advertises the complex directly outside of the door. Negan wrenches the door open and paces inside.

The lady at the desk is the landlord’s wife. She’s actually not half bad, compared to her husband. He refuses to do much around the complex, but she’s often there trying to convince him otherwise. She’s got a sharp tongue, and it’s honestly a surprise she doesn’t win most of their debates. But she’s also good friends with just about everyone living here, Negan included. The two of them hit it off the instant Negan and Rick moved in.

“Morning, Nadine.” Negan greets with a wave. Even though he’s ready to act like he’s angry about all the suffering he and Rick have had to endure ever since their air conditioner shot craps, he can’t help but smile when he sees her. She smiles right back at him.

“Hey there, Negan.” Her voice is deep and projecting, and somehow welcoming all at the same time. “You’re up early.”

“Yeah.” Negan leans against the desk. He allows himself to enjoy the coolness of the air-conditioned office. “It’s hotter than the devil’s fucking ballsack in our place right now. Can’t sleep when it feels like I’m suffocating.”

Nadine’s expression is apologetic. “I’m just gonna take a wild guess and say you need Bill for this one.”

“Yep, that’s about right.” Negan chuckles. “Though I’m sure you’d have me fixed in no damn time if you were in charge.”

“You know I would.” Nadine laughs. “I’ll go get Bill.”

Negan doesn’t mind waiting. Yeah, the room’s about as interesting as watching a beetle crawl up a brick wall, with its lack of television or books or anything entertaining, but it’s _cool_. At this point, Negan feels kind of bad for not dragging Rick along. This here would’ve been some primo air conditioning exposure.

Hell, maybe if they can’t have a new unit, Negan will find somewhere cooler for himself and Rick to spend their day.

Bill emerges not two minutes later. He’s got dirty gray coveralls on and a tired-looking face. Negan knows he operates as the complex’s maintenance guy as well as its owner, but Negan wonders what work he actually does. Is there something more important than preventing his tenants from getting heat stroke? Honestly.

“Oh, Jesus.” Bill grumbles, because he already knows why Negan’s here. Negan slaps an expression of smugness and irritation on his face for good measure.

“That’s right.” Negan smirks. “I’m back. You think I’m gonna let you sweat us out forever?”

“For Christ’s sake.” Bill rolls his eyes. “I’m not sweating you guys out. I just can’t replace the unit right now.”

Negan cocks an eyebrow. “Do you _smell_ me right now? I’ve been sweating all night. Bullshit, you can’t replace the unit. I don’t give a flying fuck if it’s one of those cheapie window units, man. You’ve gotta get us some air. It’s in the one-hundreds outside right now.”

“…Negan.” Bill looks exhausted, but Negan doesn’t care. He’s exhausted, too. _Rick’s_ gotta be exhausted. The poor guy’s up there sweating it out right now, and damn if that doesn’t make Negan’s chest cramp up a little thinking about it.

“No, asshole.” Negan retorts. “My roommate and I are losing our minds up there. If we’re paying rent, we deserve good living conditions. Or you could always take how much it costs to cool the place out of our rent and we’ll fix the damn thing ourselves…”

Bill sighs. “No, listen.” Both his hands are up, and Negan isn’t sure if it’s because he’s won or Bill just wants him to shut up. Maybe both. “Nadine did some shopping last night, and we’ve got a unit we can order, but we won’t have it until next Monday.”

…Okay, that was easier than Negan expected. He hasn’t gotten to the point of waving his sweaty armpits in this guy’s face and yet, he’s already being told there’s a way out of this humid, hellish nightmare. It’s almost a goddamn week in the future, but it’s still better than what they were getting before.

So Negan’s current situation is this: He’s got six days to help himself and Rick survive the sweltering heat of their apartment.

Easier said than done, but they’ll figure something out.

“Glad you could see it my way.” Negan can’t help but add, though.

\--- --- --- --- ---

He finds himself back at the apartment in minutes, and by now, Rick is awake. He’s got a huge contraption rigged up and suspended from the ceiling, made out of what looks like a wet blanket and some wire, and the fan is trying its best to blow the air forward with the blanket in its trajectory.

Rick looks miserable, sitting in that tank top and boxers again, glaring in frustration at the blanket as if it’s its fault.

“I don’t get the logic.” Negan starts, because he immediately knows that the big contraption is another of Rick’s attempts to not melt under the weight of the heat. “By blocking off the air, you’re cooling down?”

Rick cocks an eyebrow at him. “It’s blowin’ the water from the blanket onto me.” He deadpans, and for once, Negan feels like the more knowledgeable of the two men.

“Blanket’s too fucking bulky for that.” He points out. “Try a towel instead.”

“Not enough range.” Rick replies. It’s kind of cute how lost in thought he looks. “I just want to not have to live in this one spot all summer.”

Understandable. Negan doesn’t care to suffer all season, either. In any case, he shrugs. “You know, you’d probably be a hell of a fucking lot cooler if you took the tank top off and just chilled in your shorts.”

Rick stares at him, before he turns his focus back to the blanket struggling to move with the aid of the fan’s breeze. “…Not much of a shirtless kinda guy, Negan.”

“Oh, come on.” No, Negan isn’t actually being pushy about Rick taking his shirt off. He just doesn’t see the big deal. “Don’t tell me you’re self-conscious about me seeing your nipplets. Do you ever go out swimming? See a lot of fucking nipplets there.”

“No.” Rick frowns. “I just don’t like havin’ my shirt off.”

“Why?” Negan can’t honestly remember if he has ever seen Rick shirtless before. He supposes he has had plenty of chances to take a peek when Rick steps out of the shower in just a towel, but believe it or not, he actually respects the guy’s boundaries. That in mind, all the questions he’s volleying Rick’s way are lighthearted and playful. He doesn’t actually give a damn whether the guy leaves his shirt on or not. “You got something you’re afraid of people seeing? A tattoo? Piercings? _Oh my god, Rick Grimes_ , do you have your _nipplets_ pierced!?”

“Quit callin’ em ‘nipplets’!” Rick suddenly goes approximately four shades of red. “And no, they’re not pierced. I just like the coverage.”

Negan scoffs, but eventually shrugs in understanding. “Fair enough. It’s your pit sweat.”

“My shirt doesn’t have sleeves.” Rick argues calmly.

“Alright, smartass.” Negan rolls his eyes. “Anyway, I’ve got good news and bad news.” When Rick doesn’t respond, Negan continues. “The good news is that Scrooge down in the office caved in and ordered us a new A/C.”

Like a blue-eyed, curly-haired Christmas tree, Rick lights right the fuck up to that statement. When he does that, looking all cute and borderline cartoony about it, Negan almost feels bad that he still has the bad news to give. Of course, it’s not totally awful, since their suffering now has an end date.

“That’s awesome! What’d you say to him?”

“Not a damn thing, honestly.” Negan shrugs. “I mean, I was ready to. I was gonna give him a good whiff of what nonstop sweaty suffering fucking smells like, but he had already given in to his wife the night before.”

Rick’s smile is almost dreamy. “Nadine. That woman’s a lifesaver.”

“You bet your pretty fucking ass she is.” Negan agrees. “But hey, don’t get your dick all hard over it yet, because I’ve still got the bad news.”

Rick doesn’t speak again. Instead, he just stares right into Negan’s eyes, awaiting the aforementioned news.

“It’s gonna take until Monday for us to get it.”

Rick isn’t as disappointed as Negan expects him to be. Then again, Negan isn’t terribly surprised. Rick has always struck him as the kind of guy who’s had to tough it out from time to time, and considering he knew what to look at when it came to their broken unit, he’s probably been through a heat wave with a faulty cooling system before.

“I still think that’s awesome.” Rick muses, a little bit of his cheery smile still resting at the edges of his features. “Means we got somethin’ to look forward to.”

“That’s the spirit.” Negan smirks. “And in the meantime, we’ll just have to beat the heat some other way. Which is why we should go out today.”

“Go out?” Rick repeats, before he caves in and tears the blanket down. “Where to?”

“Not sure yet.” Negan laughs. “But if we’re gonna sweat and be miserable, I say we do it outside, where we’re fucking supposed to sweat it out. Isn’t the carnival in town?”

“The carnival?” Rick snorts. “Really, Negan?”

“Yes, _Rick_.” Negan scoffs. “The fucking carnival. Where we can dose ourselves up on cotton candy like a couple of adolescents and screech while the Zipper whips us around like titty tassels in a goddamn hurricane. That carnival.”

Rick just blinks. “I want to know who you inherited your imagination from.”

\--- --- --- --- ---

A shower and ATM withdrawal later and the two grown men find themselves at the carnival. Yeah, this is more of a family outing or a middle school date location than anything, but it’s also not in their sweltering hot apartment, and the atmosphere is nothing if not joyous. Children line up for all the little rides, like the circular track with the motorcycles or boats or cars. The kids are eating this shit up. There’s a little rollercoaster that goes up and down on a few three or four foot drops, obviously made for young children. Food stalls ooze smells like popcorn and cotton candy and corn dogs. The zipper whistles its way up and down, spinning and eliciting screams from the passengers.

There are rides everywhere, even for such a small carnival. Negan purchases a handful of tickets for both himself and Rick, even though they’re not certain they’re actually going to get on a ride. If they don’t use them, they can always just give them to a couple of kids who don’t have any left or some shit.

At present, they’re just strolling about and taking in the sights.

“Did you ever go to one of these as a kid?” Negan starts. Rick’s slurping away at a soda as they pass one of those big bouncy slides children love so much.

Rick shrugs. “All the time. I was born and raised here. King County’s small compared to the other towns around here. The carnival is one of the more exciting things to do in the summer.” He smiles up at Negan. “I had this buddy from my school days, Shane. He and I used to go here all the time together and take dares. We tried to see who could go the most times in the tilt-o-whirl without throwin’ up, or who came out of the Zipper with the most bruises, or who could eat their cotton candy the fastest.”

“Yeah?” Negan grins. It isn’t like he and Rick don’t ever talk about things, but it’s been a while since the two of them actually had the time to spend together. Rick’s got his job, which eats up most of his nights, and then he’s usually got his face buried in a book trying to catch up with homework. Negan works more than he goes to school, but most of the time he could spend with Rick is occupied by his own job. This week is a rare exception, with Rick taking days off to focus on his studies and Negan working a little extra to pick up the slack. All it means, however, is that they have more time with one another. Or rather, Negan has more evenings with Rick.

He hates being in the heat, but it’s nice to have a day off to spend with his roommate. Rick is all Negan has here, save for his coworkers.

“Yep.” Rick nibbles at his lip as he finishes his soda in fucking record time. He doesn’t seem to notice how quickly he downed the thing, though, as he casts the empty cup aside into a nearby trash can. “We stopped goin’ the summer after freshman year in high school, though. We both got jobs, and stuff between Shane and I got kinda weird.”

“What do you mean?” Negan raises an eyebrow.

Rick ponders the question for a moment, before clearing his throat. “Well, I guess we got a little confused. We got on the ferris wheel, and Shane was bein’ an asshole by rockin’ the chair and shit. I like havin’ fun, but I didn’t feel like fallin’ off the top of a ride because Shane was bein’ obnoxious. I pissed him off yellin’ for him to stop, and we were gonna head home after that because we weren’t gonna have any fun if we weren’t gonna get along. I dunno what happened, but we were walkin’ in between all the stalls when Shane pushed me up against one of the sides of one and, y’know…”

Yeah, Negan knows. Or well, he has a guess. “Did you let him?”

“Of course I did.” Rick laughs. “I adored Shane back then. I didn’t know it was like _that_ , but he must’ve. We made out a lot that summer.”

Negan laughs. “Was that your first kiss?”

“Somethin’ like that.” Rick muses. “I mean I’d given kisses on the cheek and held hands and stuff, but with Shane, it was…exciting. We did it wherever we could get the chance. He’d get off of his paper route and we’d meet up and to out to the river bridge and do it there, or I’d go to his house while his dad was at work and we’d play videogames and do it there. We were all over each other until the school year started.”

“Damn.” Negan smiles. “What happened when school started?”

Rick shrugs. “We moved on. It wasn’t hard. Shane got a girlfriend and I let him, and we never talked about it again.”

“Where’s he at now?”

“He works at the police station. Went to the academy right after he graduated. We see each other every now and then.” Rick is calm enough that Negan figures he’s content with it. That maybe he and this kid had just kind of learned to explore their sexuality through one another. It’s kind of cute, in a way. “We’re still friends.”

“I’m glad.” Negan comments. “It’d be sad as shit for that story to have a bitter ending. But hey, I gotta ask—that mean you’re, y’know, strictly dickly, or…?”

There’s a silence after that that makes Negan feel like he’s asked the wrong question. Yeah, he and Rick have been pretty open with one another about everything ever since they’d moved in together. Rick knows what Negan’s sexuality is, so it wouldn’t be that big a deal to ask. Or maybe it would to Rick. Negan hopes he didn’t just invade the man’s privacy. At the same time, however, why else would Rick tell him about Shane if he didn’t plan on being upfront about it?

And that’s when Rick decides to be every bit the spontaneous person Negan enjoys so much. He snatches Negan’s soda and takes a big slurp of it, and when he doesn’t seem to intend on giving it back, Negan shoots him a look.

“You saw my profile on the dating site, Negan.”

…Whoops.

Negan actually feels his own skin flush red. Not much embarrasses him, but being called out like that…well, it does. He offers Rick an awkward smile and then shakes his head. “Confession time, Rick: I didn’t do much research on you. I was just happy someone jumped on my request.”

Rick takes another swig on Negan’s drink, seemingly as punishment for the words. “You’re the most reckless person I’ve ever met. Goin’ all the way to Georgia for some guy just because he answered your plea for help?”

“Well…” Negan clears his throat. “It’s kind of all I had.”

“You’re so dramatic.” Rick finishes off Negan’s drink, and then stuffs it into another trash can. He abruptly veers toward the restroom from there. “I have to pee.”

Negan just gapes at him. “I bet you fucking do. Goddamn.”

It doesn’t take Rick long to emerge from the bathroom. His bladder safely emptied for a few moments, he directs them on the rest of their stroll. It’s a silent one, even though both men keep glancing at one another. Negan finds himself thinking about what Rick told him about his friend from school. Wonders what Rick would do if he pulled the same thing. Or maybe he could just be a little more subtle and take his hand. They’re grown men, after all. Rick probably knows plenty about his interests at this point, and Negan trusts him to say no.

But before he can do anything, the screaming of a child reaches both their ears. Their focus is directed to a pair of siblings—a brother and a sister. The brother appears to be maybe five years old, and his sister is probably around seven. The sister looks frustrated while her brother sobs at the top of the stairs leading up to the ride they’re trying to get onto. At the foot of the stairs are a couple Negan assumes are their parents.

“Denny…” The little girl whimpers. “C’mon, please don’t make me ride this by myself.” The ride is the little rollercoaster Negan and Rick had strolled by earlier. Nothing too crazy. But for a five-year-old, it’s probably a lot more scary. “It’ll be fun, bubby, c’mon!”

The boy sniffles. “…I can’t. It’s scary. I don’t wanna ride in a dragon.”

Okay, Negan gets that much. The carts the kids are supposed to ride in are painted to look like one long, snakelike dragon. It’s got a big, cartoony smile on its face and looks friendly enough. But not to this kid. Negan feels kind of bad for him.

Rick brushes past him, though. He speaks to the parents for a few moments, and when they nod, seemingly giving him permission for something, he starts up the steps. Negan can’t hear what’s going on, but he crouches in front of the boy and starts smiling and talking to him. He keeps his distance, but remains in his crouched position, trying to stay on the same level as the boy. Soon enough, the boy is smiling and nodding, and he and his sister board the ride.

Negan watches Rick hop off the stairs and circle around the ride to stand at the fence right next to the rollercoaster’s first ‘drop’. The boy still looks nervous, but when Rick smiles and holds his hands up, the kid does the same thing.

Negan’s heart does approximately three flips when Rick and the boy whoop in delight at the same time. Almost instantly, this kid is enjoying the ride he was so scared of, and every time the coaster circles the track and passes by they both squeal excitedly.

What the hell did Rick say to this kid? Negan knows he probably looks like a deer in the headlights, all gawking at the sight before him. His stomach feels warm and melty and his throat small. He can’t stop staring, though. Rick’s having a good time and he’s not even on the ride, and he looks like he’s having the time of his fucking _life_.

Negan can’t help but think just how good of a father this man would be.

\--- --- --- --- ---

“I can’t believe you actually screamed!” Rick is all but bellowing with laughter as he and Negan finally depart the carnival and clamber into Negan’s vehicle. “The way you talk, I assumed you lived on rides like the Gravitron.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Despite his words, Negan is laughing too. “I can handle a lot of things, but spinning metal deathtraps with spontaneous floor disappearances aren’t on that list.”

“You don’t understand.” Rick jeers. “You were howling. Huge guy with the big vocabulary starts screamin’ like Steve Harvey and I’m gonna laugh for a while. Shit, Negan, I didn’t realize you had that sound in you.”

“Yeah well.” Negan clears his throat as he throws the car into reverse. “I got a lot more surprises, I promise you that.”

“Are you flirtin’ right now?” Rick questions, and when Negan turns his head to look at him, he sees that the other man’s staring out the window. He can just barely make out the tip of a smile on his lips.

“When am I not?” Negan jokes. “I’ve told you, Rick—I’m an upfront kind of guy. If you haven’t figured that out by now, I’m surprised.”

“No, trust me.” Rick snorts. “I got it figured out. It’s just…a little unreal.”

“Unreal, how?” Negan can’t hide the incredulousness in his voice. “That the guy who you met on a dating site considers you appealing?”

Rick doesn’t answer. Negan sees the thoughtfulness on his expression and decides not to push the issue. Besides, they’ve had a fun afternoon. It’s time to take a breather and reflect on it all.

They drive in silence clear until they reach their apartment once more. By now, afternoon is starting to give way to evening, and the sun is on its way to setting. Their home is undoubtedly too fucking hot, but at least they’ve only got a few hours of suffering before they can open their windows and be miserable a little less.

As they start up the steps to their apartment, Rick speaks again.

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Negan replies.

“Did you go to carnivals a lot as a kid?” Rick’s curiosity is just about as adorable as everything else having to do with him today. Negan keeps that to himself, though.

“Not really.” He shrugs. “I went a couple of times, but my parents didn’t like getting out much. I was too young to ride the big stuff one time, and gave up after riding the Zipper the second time. Not much entertainment value when the apparent coolest fucking ride there throws you around like a sack of potatoes.”

“It really does.” Rick chuckles, and then unlocks the door.

“You never answered me earlier.” Negan presses, and even though Rick isn’t looking at him, he can tell he’s waiting to be told more. “About your potential strictly dickly-ness.”

Rick shrugs. “Check my profile, Negan.”

And like that, the two men go their separate ways. For Rick, it’s the studies he’s abandoned for his afternoon out with Negan. And for Negan, it’s hours wasted on his phone playing videogames, and maybe looking up Rick’s profile from three months ago.

According to the site, Rick is indeed strictly dickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided on a whim to write a gay Rick. Normally, I headcanon him as bisexual or pansexual, but I went with this this time around. It wasn't necessarily decided to justify why Rick doesn't have Lori or Carl in his life this time around, but hey, if you wanna see it that way, go for it lol. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this so far!


	3. Pool Cues

Negan’s job here in King County isn’t shit. In his defense, he’s only been living here a few months, but still. It’d be nice if he wasn’t slaving away in a gas station deli all afternoon. The place is air-conditioned well enough that it’s not the heat that’s bothering him. It’s being the only person in the back, too focused on throwing taquitos and corn dogs into a fryer to do anything else.

At first, Negan had jumped on the chance to work it. It’s a simple, monotonous job that’s busy enough that time flies. The pay is minimum wage, but there isn’t much Negan’s going to get without a reputation here, so he took it. He gets a free lunch, and he gets enough hours that he can pay his bills and the ones Rick can’t afford, and he honestly doesn’t have to answer to many people. He keeps an eye on the deli case, cooks enough food to keep it full, orders supplies, and sets out things for the next day. Aside from cleanup, it’s not terrible.

But it sure is lonely. At Negan’s last job, he was constantly exposed to people. He spent most of his time talking to coworkers or customers, and he had enough freedom that he could easily carry on a friendly conversation with most of them. Hell, he’d even hooked up with one or two of them on the down-low.

Here, he’s got his fryers, his food, and even though he’s not supposed to, his phone. He keeps his phone right next to the clipboard where he writes down how much of every item he makes, and when he has a second, he checks it. A couple of times, he’s actually whittled away at the game the cashiers have gotten him hooked on.

Today, he’s not feeling it. Hell, he’s not feeling much of _anything_. If he had his way, he wouldn’t be here. He and Rick would be off somewhere at some air-conditioned place that wasn’t either of their jobs or school, and they’d be having a fucking blast. Rick would be whooping and cheering like he had yesterday, and Negan would be drinking the sight in like cheap wine.

But today’s not one of those days. Negan can’t close the deli until seven, and cleanup takes a good hour, so he’s not on his way home until eight. And by then, Rick has only been home from his last class of the day for a few minutes. On this day, they’re both usually too tired to do much of anything, and it isn’t like they’d have any daylight available with which to do so, anyway.

Today would be a good day to drop by the recreational center and take a dip in the pool. Too bad Negan’s too busy making sure the gas station burritos don’t cook for more than three minutes and twenty seconds, and Rick’s only sound is a lecture from class right now.

Or is it? Rick’s got to be exhausted from all that he’s got on his plate, honestly. Is he actually participating in class, or is he passed the fuck out from trying to beat the heat and expand his brain all at the same goddamn time? Poor guy…

Somehow though, Negan survives. He reeks like potato wedges and dirty fryer oil, but he’s at least through closing up the place. He bids the two cashiers still working goodbye and fucks off right on out of there.

And once he’s in the car, he’s reminded just how sweltering goddamned hot it is at the house he’s about to return to. Negan doesn’t know what crazy cooling-off method Rick has resorted to this time, but he knows it’s probably not doing much good. They need something to tide them over until morning.

He settles on slushies and clambers right back out of his car so that he can pick up one for the both of them. Rick likes the plain jane soda flavored ones, so he gets Rick a cola slushie, while Negan goes for the sickly sweet blue raspberry, which is undoubtedly going to turn his teeth blue, but oh well.

Even though he’d purchased his drink for the sake of cooling down in his apartment, he’s already slurped half of it away by the time he gets home. His tongue is rich with the tang of blue raspberry, but it’s also cool, so when he steps inside, it actually doesn’t feel totally awful.

“You wanna know how fucking good a roommate I am?” Negan starts, but he doesn’t finish when he sees where Rick is. He’s curled up on that same armchair, books in his lap and his head leaned up against the side of the backrest. His legs are crossed and his arms rest limp atop the books, stopping them from falling to the ground. He’s fast asleep, and Negan can just barely hear his soft snoring over the whirring of the fan.

Rick doesn’t have anything fancy put together this time. He’s just caved in by placing the fan in the window and letting it suck the night air in, which is actually doing a half-decent job. It’s apparently comfortable enough that Rick has managed to fall asleep through it, so there’s that much.

Negan sighs. He figures he probably should have called in advance to tell Rick he was picking something up. Right now, it doesn’t feel fair to bother him, so he instead retreats to the kitchen and puts both their slushies in the freezer. When he returns to the living room, he gently pries Rick’s studies from his hands. The other man stirs somewhat, but after inhaling sleepily, he shifts in his chair a little, draws his knees up to his chest, and goes right back to sleep.

Looking at Rick like that, Negan feels himself grow tired. They’ve both had a long day, and even though Negan kind of really wants to shower off the stink of fried food from his body, he also loves the idea of a little sleep. And with the air cooling off somewhat outside and the fan sucking in ventilation from it, the living room feels alright for sleeping.

So Negan decides Rick has a good thing going and slips off everything but his boxers. Lazily, he piles his other clothes up next to the couch and makes the mental note to do something with them after he wakes up. For now, he flops down onto said couch and closes his eyes. It doesn’t take him long to pass right the fuck out.

He dreams strangely vivid dreams, about potato wedges and cotton candy and pool water. The things all meld together, swirling and dancing among one another. In Negan’s dreams, it’s cool everywhere, and Rick’s there. But he still has that godforsaken tank top on. What the fuck is the dude hiding under there? Hell, maybe it’s the secret to what’s got their air conditioner broken. Yeah, that makes sense…

Rick melts into the swirling images like his own unique color in a Pink Floyd music video, and Negan’s heart races. Suddenly, he can’t see Rick, or the potato wedges, or the cotton candy. The pool water mixes it all together, and a strange sense of longing washes over Negan’s mind. He wants them all to come back.

He reaches out into the swirling pool of colors, but it’s like they’re not even real. The further he extends his arm, the further away the colors get. They’re untouchable, and intangible, and goddamn, now Negan really wants some potato wedges…

And then he’s on the ground and wide awake. He hears his own body hit the carpet of the living room floor, which starkly reminds him that he’d passed out on the couch. Negan, being the big bed-hog he is, should have known better than to try and crash on something that wasn’t even twin-sized.

It’s still late. Negan can tell that much by how dark the living room is. The moonlight peers straight through the open window Rick has been sleeping in front of. By now, Rick’s chair is unoccupied and the younger man is instead crouched a foot or so away from Negan.

“…You okay?” Negan can’t make out Rick’s features in the darkness, but he can tell the little asshole is trying not to laugh.

“I’m fine.” Negan responds impulsively. He flopped off a couch, which is no big deal. He’d probably be laughing at Rick if the guy did the same thing. “What the fuck…it’s late, still.”

“Yeah.” Rick casts a glance across the room, squinting at a wall clock Negan can’t make out the numbers to. Somehow, Rick is able to discern the time, though. “It’s a little after one. You have a bad dream or somethin’?”

“Or something.” Negan laughs and sits up. “It felt more like an acid trip than a dream, though.” He realizes that even with the fan sucking air into their living room, it’s still hotter than hell. Even in just his underwear, Negan feels like he can’t get cooled down enough.

“What kind of dream feels like an acid trip?” Rick scoffs.

Negan just shrugs and hefts himself back up onto the couch. “The kind that fucking makes you throw yourself off a couch, I guess. It had a lot of things. I think I was in a pool or something, because all of the other things were getting all swirled together and shit.”

“You’re not makin’ much sense.” Rick observes.

“Well, the goddamn dream didn’t make sense, either.” Negan answers. “Because even though I was in the pool and all the shit was mixing together around me, I couldn’t touch any of it—Jesus fucking Christ, Rick, it’s hot in here.”

The sudden subject change catches the smaller man off guard, and when Negan meets Rick’s eyes, he sees wide blue orbs almost glowing in the darkness. Eventually, Rick just shrugs and shakes his head. “I dunno what else to do.”

“I know you don’t.” Negan sighs. “If I had my way, we’d just fuck off to a pool somewhere, and…” He drifts off there, because oh fuck, he has an idea.

“And what?” Rick pushes. He can probably see the widening in Negan’s eyes and the look of realization on his face. Or maybe not…it _is_ pretty dark in here.

“Our apartment has a pool.” Negan thinks aloud. Sure, it’s a horribly-kept outdoor pool, but it’s a pool no less. A pool with undoubtedly cooler water than there is air in here. And Negan could honestly go for a swim regardless. He’s been off and on thinking about it all night. It’s no wonder it haunted his dream.

“Yeah.” Rick shrugs. “Pool closes at ten, though. It’s one in the mornin’.”

“Richard.” Negan deadpans.

“My name’s not Richard.” Rick corrects.

“It’s for fucking emphasis, Rick.” Either way, Negan shrugs and nods toward the window. “The point is, they don’t maintain this place enough to give two shits what time we decide to go swim in their pool. We pay rent, and seeing as we’re being charged for an air conditioner that doesn’t fucking work right now, I think we’re entitled to a late-night swim. The boss man can suck my left nut if he’s got a problem with it.”

Rick makes a face that Negan’s eyes are only barely acclimated enough to the dark to make out. It’s something between disgust and confusion. “I doubt his wife would be okay with that.”

“ _I_ wouldn’t be okay with that.” Negan corrects. “Anywho, we’re already dressed the part. Let’s fucking go.”

It doesn’t take Rick much persuasion. They’re both burning up, so it makes sense that he’d give in eventually. The worst case scenario is that the leaves and bugs haven’t been cleaned out of the water yet, and that’s an easy fix. The pool is right next to the main building, and it’s your typical swimming pool. Three feet deep on one side, ascending to six. A ladder at the deep end and stairs at the shallow end. There are underwater lights, but the two at the shallow end are burnt out, leaving it pretty dark.

Despite that, the two men are still determined to go out for their swim. Lucky for them, the fence blocking the pool from the rest of the complex is unlocked. Negan pulls it open and it squeaks loudly in protest along the way. They step inside anyway, unafraid of whatever backlash there might be. It isn’t like the owners live here, after all. The tenants can tattle, but Negan doubts they will. And even if they do, fuck them. Negan and Rick are about to have a blast.

He and Rick each grab a net and make quick work of cleaning leaves out of the pool water. It isn’t terribly bad—one of the few things Negan has seen actually be kept up in this place. The water looks and smells mostly clean, so once he’s not worried about diving into a surface full of leaves, Negan casts the net aside and cannonballs right in.

He was right to make this call. The pool was a fantastic fucking idea. It’s been so hot outside that the water isn’t ice cold. It’s just cool enough that when it surrounds him as he jumps in, the not-overwhelming coolness makes him instantly feel better. He probably looks like some big glowing dork underneath the water, his hair falling free from the binds of the gel he slicks it back with and the goofy smile forming on his lips. Even with his eyes closed, he can see the illumination of the lights beneath the water on him. His boxers are probably a bit too thin of a material to go swimming in, but it still feels nice.

And when he resurfaces, it’s even better. It’s to fresh air. Cool air, air that actually circulates around him. Negan would stay out here all night if he could, and he’s only just gotten in the water.

Rick is still standing on the edge. He stares down at Negan as the larger man wipes the water out of his face and pushes it back through his hair. Their eyes meet, and Negan smirks.

“It feels like goddamn heaven.” Negan says. “Get in here.”

Rick doesn’t move right away. He’s still got that stupid fucking tank top on. He eventually takes a seat at the edge of the water and sticks his feet in.

Negan frowns. “That’s not what we came out here for, Rick. I’m fucking telling you, this is the best cool-off method in the world right now. And for fuck’s sake, take the shirt off.”

Rick kicks some water in Negan’s direction. “I will, alright? I just wanna sit for a minute.”

Negan finds himself staring Rick down for a few moments, before he swims his way over and props his arms up over the edge next to Rick. “Fine, have it your way. Be a boring-ass.”

“I’m not bein’ a boring anything!” Rick shoves at Negan’s face, and Negan laughs.

“Then get in the fucking water!” He teases.

“You know what?” Rick’s eyes grow dangerously wide, and for a moment, Negan is actually a little worried. “Fine. But first…”

Negan finds himself being shoved back away from the edge, and then Rick is using his foot to push him underwater. He doesn’t fight it. He sinks the foot or so that the power of the movement generated, and as he floats back up, he feels the water give way to Rick submerging himself too.

“It’s about goddamn time.” Negan half-praises when Rick comes back up, but when he sees the wet tank top billowing up in the water around Rick’s frame, Negan rolls his eyes. “Are you serious right now? Rick—what the fuck is under there?”

Rick’s expression steels. “There’s nothin’ under there. I just like wearin’ shirts.”

“You always go swimming with a shirt on?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Then cool the fuck off!” Negan tries, sweeping in close. “I’m telling you, it feels even better when your skin’s exposed to all this nice, fresh air.”

Negan can’t help but notice the way Rick’s eyes are fixed on his own as he swims back. He’s not afraid, so much as he’s in deep contemplation. Why he’s giving so much thought to taking his tank top off is beyond Negan, but he is.

“Okay, not gonna lie,” Negan decides, “if you don’t take it off, I’m gonna. Whatever’s under there can’t be that bad.”

“What’s under there isn’t the issue.” Rick swallows, and Negan sees his back hit the edge of the pool.

Negan frowns. “…Okay, whoa. I’m sorry, Rick. I’ve been pushy as shit about this, haven’t I?”

“Yeah, you have.” Rick smiles sheepishly up at him. “But I get it. You want me to relax. It’s just that…shit, we met on a dating site, Negan.”

Whoa.

Negan had been thinking about swimming closer, and honestly, the implications in Rick’s words aren’t all that untrue. Obviously, he’s attracted to the guy. But he would never…

“You think I would try something on you.” Negan honestly isn’t sure if he’s pissed off that Rick doesn’t trust him or not. There’s a sinking feeling in his gut, because he trusts Rick with _everything_ , but he also kind of gets it. They’ve known one another for a handful of months. So what if Rick wants to be cautious?

But to think he’d do something forceful to Rick…the thought makes Negan a little sick to his stomach.

“No.” Rick bites his lip. “No, Negan. It’s not like that.”

“Mind telling me what the fuck it _is_ like, then?” Negan can’t stop the furrowing in his brow or the slight upturn to his pitch.

“It’s just…” Rick scrubs his hand through his hair—wet hair that curls even more than when it’s dry. “Shit, Negan, I _like_ what we’ve got goin’ on, here. I don’t know what’ll happen if…”

“Rick.” Negan sighs. “I’d _never_ make you do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

Rick shakes his head. “No. I trust you.” There’s a little, facetious smile that works its way up onto his features. “I don’t know why in the hell I do, because you’re textbook sleazeball-jackass, but I do. You’re a good guy somehow, too. I just…don’t trust me.”

Negan feels his stomach start doing somersaults like it did yesterday at the carnival. “…Fuck, Rick…you’re gonna have to elaborate on that one a little. Because I’m confused. And intrigued.”

Rick bites his lip. “I joined a dating site for a reason, Negan.” Negan can tell Rick sees the wide-eyed look on his face. “I was…lookin’ at one point. And I was…interested before I read what you had on your profile, about the move and all. We get along real well, which is _crazy_. I don’t want to ruin that.”

“Well, if it’s any comfort, that makes two of us.” Negan says, the smile working its way back onto his features. “On all of the shit you just said. And I’m gonna be honest to fucking god here, Rick—I’ll follow what limits you set, but I’m not gonna turn down what you give me if those limits happen to cross…y’know, certain lines.”

“Are you confessin’ your feelings to me?” Rick laughs.

Negan reciprocates with a smirk. “Didn’t you just do the same?”

Rick just shrugs, and this time, he doesn’t move when Negan swims closer. He doesn’t flinch when Negan’s fingers find the bottom of his shirt and push it up. He even goes so far as to help when the wet article is tugged up and off his arms.

And yeah, of course Negan has to resist the urge to kiss him. Rick’s staring earnestly up at him, waiting to see what he’s going to do. Yeah, he’s getting drawn in by those pale blue eyes looking up into his own. It would be so easy, but at the same time, it’s hard.

And like Rick, he values what they already have. So instead of caving to his urges, Negan just smiles and cocks his head to the side. “See? Feels better, right?”

“I told you there were no piercings.” Rick responds, before he shoves Negan back.

They actually take the time to swim after that. They circle the deep end, chatting as they move, and eventually tread over to the shallow end, where they sit on their knees and finish their talk. At one point, there’s a splash fight, and at another, a wrestling match. By the time the two men are done with their pool date, they’re soaked head to toe and exhausted.

As they step back into their humid apartment, the clock reads three in the morning. Rick’s got class tomorrow, and Negan has work again, but that’s alright. They had a good time, and now that their bodies are wet from their swim, the air the fan’s blowing in doesn’t feel terrible.

So it’s back to Negan crashing on the couch, and to Rick sleeping in the chair, as if they hadn’t just snuck out and gone for a swim.

At the very least, Negan has an idea for what they can do tomorrow night if it’s ridiculously hot again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao I loved how many people thought Rick was legit hiding something under his shirt. Someone mentioned top surgery scars, and honestly I'd love to write a trans Rick, but I also don't know enough and I absolutely don't want to offend anyone by accidentally writing something that doesn't make sense or comes off as ignorant.
> 
> But that was a brilliant idea. <3
> 
> Anywho, hope yall still enjoyed this update!


	4. Sunbeams, Pizza, and Car Rides

Negan wakes to the harsh, piercing glare of sunlight through the very window he and Rick had crashed in front of the previous night following their late-night swim. It hits him square in the eyes and damn near knocks him off the couch all over again. This time, however, he catches his bearings and wills himself to just sit up instead of immediately turning away and off the couch. He curses under his breath, and then pushes himself upright. His face and chest feel like they’re a million degrees, and he’s inwardly thanking himself by not making things worse and throwing himself away from the harsh sunbeam. Landing on a chest that may or may not be sunburnt from lying in front of the window does not sound pleasant.

As he moves away from the light in his now-sitting position, Negan checks the time.

“Shit.” It’s past noon, meaning he’s horribly late for work. He was due in at eleven, and seeing as he’s nearly an hour and a half late, his job has probably been blowing up his phone. Negan _really_ isn’t ready to deal with that right now. But with Rick likely already in class and only the hot air to look forward to here, Negan talks himself into picking up his phone and checking to see just how in goddamn trouble he is.

Not surprisingly, he has six missed calls. One is from his manager, and the other five from one of the cashiers he’s close friends with. He takes some relief in that he can just call that cashier back instead of dealing with his boss. At least he has the benefit of being friends with this guy.

When said cashier picks up, though, Negan _almost_ regrets his decision, because he finds himself on the receiving end of one hell of an earful. Not that he doesn’t deserve it, but that doesn’t make the barking in his ear stop.

“Shit, Javi…” Negan scratches the back of his head with his free hand. “I’m coming in, okay? I’ll explain when I fucking get there.”

“You’d better.” Negan’s friend growls over the phone, before hanging up.

Negan understands, though. Javi has probably been doing both cashiering and deli work at the same time, and if Negan had been left hanging, he’d have undoubtedly been even more loud and pissy and obnoxious than Javi.

Either way, he pushes himself back to his feet and heads to the bathroom for a quick shower. Briefly, he entertains the idea of a cold shower, but he knows he’ll end up turning it warmer as his body decides to freak the fuck out on him.

In the end, his shower is predictably hot as hell, which renders the bathroom, even with the vent running, hot as hell by transition. By the time he’s done washing up and drying off, he’s already sweating again. He flips off the mirror after brushing his teeth and then starts into the hall.

Thankfully, the living room and kitchen are now significantly cooler than the bathroom, and Negan’s skin, still hot from the shower, thanks him for the cool breeze as he meanders around and slowly gets himself dressed.

Javi probably wants Negan to hurry the fuck up, but he decides to make it up to the guy somehow anyway. While he drives, he places a to-go pizza order from a mom-and-pop place Javi himself showed to him. He snags a few drinks from there, some curly fries, and then drives like a bat out of hell to work.

\--- --- --- --- ---

“You really went there.” Javi doesn’t look impressed. His eyes are half-lidded with irritation and his posture not unlike that of an angry cat. “You’re trying to buy forgiveness with pizza.”

Negan grins and cocks his head amidst a shrug. “Yep, that’s right.”

Javi shakes his head, still looking disappointed. “You’re an ass, Negan. At the very least, though, you _did_ choose the good pizza.” Javi’s definitely the type of guy to look for the good in a bad situation. So even when he’s giving Negan shit, he’s looking at the bright side. What a dude.

“Forgive me?” Negan tries.

Again, Javi offers a shake of the head. “Even if I do, you’ve still got to explain yourself. I’ve been busting my ass on _your_ shit ever since your shift was _supposed_ to start.”

Negan places the pizza box on the counter and moves behind the registers, toward the door leading into the kitchen. “Let me get us caught up, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

In reality, Javi has been doing a fantastic job keeping this place in one piece. He’s got potato wedges frying away, amounts of items he’s cooked scribbled down onto a piece of paper, and a little note atop the table with a crudely-drawn picture of what Negan assumes to be himself and the title ‘monumental asshole’ scribbled next to it. Negan scoffs.

“I expect you to wear that on your forehead.” Javi orders, startling the ever-loving shit out of Negan, who hadn’t been expecting his friend to pop up back in the kitchen. Javi makes no hesitation in snatching up a piece of scotch tape and attaching it to the note, before he plants it right on the middle of Negan’s forehead and lets it dangle over his face. “That’s better.”

“Fuck you.” Negan rolls his eyes from behind the drawing. “Aren’t you supposed to be out there watching gas pumps or some shit?”

In Javi’s defense, they can both see the front of the store through the kitchen doorway, and the doorbell rings anytime someone enters or leaves.

“Nope.” Javi crosses his arms. “Rush hour, which I handled _by myself,_ was over thirty minutes ago.”

“Right.” Negan sighs and rips the drawing down from his forehead. “I’m sorry, okay? Go eat your fucking pizza. It’ll make you feel better.”

“ _Our_ pizza.” Javi corrects with a roll of his eyes. “We’re gonna eat it together, because I’m assuming if you overslept, you haven’t eaten, either.”

Negan shrugs. “I haven’t. But I was planning on doing so once I got caught up. And seeing as you’ve already pretty much fucking got us there…”

“You’re welcome.” Javi smirks. The fryer beeps.

Negan just rolls his eyes as he lifts the basket full of potato wedges from the fryer. “We’ll go up front in a second and talk. I’m willing to bet my ass _that’s_ what you’re really upset about. Missed me for the handful of hours I’ve been gone, huh?”

Javi snorts. “Yeah. Missed you about like I miss shutting my fingers in doors.”

Soon enough, the two men find themselves at a stopping point. Javi rings up the few stragglers that have entered the building, and Negan throws down some corn dogs and puts them into the deli case. Afterward, they each snag a slice of pizza. Javi takes a seat on the counter nearest his register, and Negan leans back against the very same one.

“Okay, so here’s the story.” Negan starts, jumping on the occasion while Javi’s got a mouth full of pizza keeping him from being a little snark-ass. “My apartment is hotter than Hell right now. Air conditioner’s broken.” Javi knows this part, but Negan still feels the need to voice it. “Rick and I have been trying just about goddamn everything to survive while we wait for our fucking pricksicle of a landlord to do something about it. He’s got a unit that’s not getting here until Monday. Fucking Monday. So we’ve got to survive until then. Seeing as it’s Thursday, we’ve still got a long-ass time to go.”

Javi shrugs. “Dunno what this has to do with oversleeping.”

“I’m getting there.” Negan grunts. “So Rick and I have been trying everything. We’ve tried going out and just avoiding the place all day, but Rick has homework and shit, so we can’t always do that. We tried putting some ice in front of a fan, but the shit melts too quickly. Rick even tried blowing a wet blanket around for whatever goddamn reason. Well, last night, we went for a swim. It was late, so the pool was closed. We broke in—figured our landlord owed us at least that much over this air conditioner bullshit.”

“Oh god.” Javi swallows a mouthful of pizza. “Don’t go into detail. I know you guys did it, but I don’t want to know about your sloppy pool sex.”

“Fuck you.” Negan snaps. “We didn’t fucking have sex.”

“You serious?” Javi laughs. “The way you guys are with one another, I’d have figured you two would have long-since been banging it out by now.”

“Guess you thought wrong then, Javier.” Negan answers. “Anyway, it was like fucking three in the morning when we got back. Guess I forgot to turn my alarm on, so I overslept. My bad, man. You know I wouldn’t leave you hanging on purpose.”

Javi frowns. “…That’s it? How anticlimactic.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you were expecting.” Negan laughs, shaking his head. Javi has a right to expect more, honestly. He knows everything about Negan’s situation, from him deciding to move here from Virginia to their shitty apartment and landlord, all the way to his budding crush on Rick. How they met on a dating site, and how for some reason they’re _not_ dating. Javi’s the closest thing Negan has to a best friend here aside from Rick, so it’s only natural that he comes to him about this stuff.

It helps that Javi’s not in a totally different situation. He’d started out in Maryland, but after his father passed away two years ago, he moved here. He had gotten himself into trouble with the baseball league, and decided to try and start over. He lives by himself, but he’s been supposedly talking to some guy from Virginia online for quite some time. Apparently, this guy is gonna pay him a visit within the next few months.

Talking about this guy is what spurred Negan talking about Rick. Javi’s absolutely smitten over this guy, so it’s hard to not discuss this kind of thing giddily at work like a couple of schoolgirls about their crushes.

In any case, Javi knows Negan’s been interested in Rick from the very beginning, so he was probably silently rooting for Negan to have finally crossed that threshold and gotten himself a boyfriend. A late-night swim with zero steamy results? Okay, Negan can get why that’d be a little bit boring.

“I don’t know—that you guys finally hooked up?” Javi laughs. “That too much to ask?”

“Sort of.” Negan answers honestly. “I mean, the subject _did_ come up last night. Fucking Rick of all people brought it to my attention, actually.”

Javi cocks an eyebrow, but doesn’t speak. So Negan keeps going.

“It’s fucking twenty million goddamn degrees in our apartment, and this little cocksucker keeps wearing this tank top.” He says. “I’m a little concerned, because maybe he’s self-conscious around me, but he keeps telling me it’s because he doesn’t like to go around shirtless. I get it, it’s his fucking body, he can do whatever the hell he wants with it. Until he thinks hopping into a pool with the goddamn thing on is a good idea. So, I brought it up to him.”

“It’s a shirt, Negan.” Javi scoffs. “What’s the big deal?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Negan retorts. “Anyway, he ended up telling me it’s because he’s interested in me, but he likes what we have going on right now. Guess he’s afraid a relationship will fuck all that up.”

“…Damn.” Javi actually looks disappointed. “What’d you tell him?”

“That I’m interested too.” Negan answers with a shrug. “But I’m not about to push him into anything he’s not fucking ready for.”

“Yikes.” Javi looks like he just bit his tongue.

“What the fuck do you mean, yikes?” Negan questions.

“I mean, that’s it, then?” Javi almost looks sympathetic, and as much as Negan appreciates him, he also kind of wants to punch him right now. “You guys aren’t getting together?”

“I don’t know.” Negan shrugs. “Maybe it is. But I’ll take what I can get. It’d be a shame to lose a friend like Rick over getting pissy because he won’t let me put my dick in him.”

“I don’t think that’s the case, though.” Javi shakes his head. “I think it will be if you look at it like that. But from an outside point of view, I doubt it’d ruin your friendship if it happened.”

Negan doesn’t respond. He just waits for Javi to continue.

“I mean, the two of you act like you’re in a relationship already.”

That statement isn’t completely baseless. Negan has invited Javier over a couple of times, and he’s gotten to see the way he and Rick interact. Hell, Rick will sometimes come by and grab himself a drink before he heads home. So Javi has some basis behind the statement. He’s not just saying empty words to be reassuring.

“You should see the way you two look at each other. It’s like eating a spoonful of syrup.” Javi continues.

Negan snorts outright. “Fuck you for exaggerating.”

“I’m not exaggerating.” Javi brings both hands up in surrender. One hand still clasps half a slice of pizza. “Trust me—I’m telling you that you may think making a move on the guy is risky, but you guys are just gonna be the same damn guys, just with a lot more kissing.”

Negan does a lot of thinking about Javi’s words. Nevermind the teasing the other man gives him during the rest of his shift, or having to balance all that teasing with refilling the deli case and cleaning up shop before the end of the day. All that stuff is definitely there, but Rick’s at the forefront of Negan’s mind. Rick, who Negan is already having trouble keeping off the brain as of late. Rick, who is probably all cuddled back up on that fucking chair in front of that fucking fan. Rick, with his strangely childish, giddy, friendly side that’s been coming out as of late.

Rick, who Negan most _definitely_ has a crush on, now.

He arrives home to find Rick sitting with the chair facing the television this time. Netflix is streaming some documentary about lizards, while Rick hacks away at what Negan recognizes to be the slushie he’d bought him the night before with a spoon. He turns his head up to acknowledge Negan.

“When’d you buy this?” Rick asks. Clearly, he’s just taken it out of the freezer, as it’s still hard as a rock. Negan knows Rick knows the slushie was purchased for him, going by the flavor. For some reason, this embarrasses Negan a little.

“Last night.” Negan answers as he tosses his car keys onto the coffee table. “Your ass was plum knocked out when I got home, though.”

Rick just smiles. “Well, let it be known that I’m not gonna waste it. This is just what I needed, actually. Air conditioner in class today stopped workin’.”

“Oh, fuck.” Negan frowns. “That sucks, man. You just can’t catch a break. Tell you what—you can come hang out with me at work tomorrow. Place is air conditioned as shit, y’know.”

Rick rolls his eyes. “You don’t work tomorrow.”

Oh, yeah. Did Negan mention Rick knows his schedule better than Negan himself knows it? Because that’s a thing. If not for Rick helping him keep track of it, he’d probably be late more than just this once. Javier would probably be ready to dump the fryer oil on him, it’d happen so much.

“Really?” Negan knows he looks genuinely shocked. Again, a little embarrassing. “I’m actually not entirely okay with that. Means I gotta find out what to do in this sweltering armpit-sweat factory of an apartment while you’re off getting smarter.”

“I don’t have school tomorrow.” Rick shrugs. “Maybe we should go out together.”

Negan wonders how Rick can say that and look so placid right now. Oh, right. Because he hasn’t been spending the entire day getting hyped up by his friend about a relationship he isn’t sure is even going to happen. Javi means well, but Negan’s in his thirties and a big fucking mess right now, and he really doesn’t like the feeling at all.

But Rick looks the very picture of peaceful as he mentions it. With a spoonful of scraped-off slushie raised to his lips, it’s like he’s talking about the weather. Probably because that’s what it’s like to him. Because he doesn’t mean they’re going out on a date. He doesn’t mean anything like that. What he means is that they should get out of their hot-ass apartment and find something cooler to do.

“Like what?” Negan finally manages to ask.

“I dunno.” Rick shrugs. “Just somethin’ fun…to get away for a little while.”

“I getcha.” Negan finds himself smirking right back to match Rick’s calm smile. “Too bad the next beach is like two hundred fucking miles away.”

Yes, Negan knows the distance from here to the beach. He’s done the research. Going to the coast sounded like a blast even before the air conditioner crisis. It was one of the things Negan wanted to do when he first got to Georgia. Now, it sounds like a goddamn godsend, except for the fact that driving there would take like six fucking hours. When he was living in Virginia, he was closer to a beach.

“We could still go.” Rick shrugs. “We’ve got all day tomorrow. We’ll just have to leave real early in the mornin’.”

“…Don’t you have homework?” Negan questions.

“Yes, Mom.” Rick retorts. “But I’ve been doin’ homework for months, now. I need a break. Seriously, Negan—you brought it up. Let’s go to the beach.”

And that’s how they end up on the fucking road at nearly ten o’clock at night. At some point, a fleeting thought that they could go to a beach had evolved into an outright decision to go to said beach, and leaving in the morning had become leaving at night, so that they’d have plenty of time during the day to spend on the coast. The two had made haste packing a night’s worth of clothing and toiletries, and then they’d hopped into Negan’s car and flipped their apartment off goodbye for a night.

They don’t really have the money to be doing this, but it’s happening. Rick dips into his savings a little. It’s a rare, reckless decision on his part, but as Negan drives them down the highway, Rick manages to use his phone to book them a relatively affordable hotel a few miles away from the beach. The town they’re going to—the same one Negan looked up all those months ago—is small, so hotels are few and far between and pretty expensive, but this one will do. It’s only one night, after all. Sure doesn’t seem to bother Rick to spend the money on it, so Negan’s not complaining.

“Did you go to the beach a lot?” Rick breaks the silence about an hour out onto the road. “Up until now, I mean.”

Negan shakes his head. “Not really. I was only a couple hours away from the beach back in Virginia, so I guess I fucking took that shit for granted. As a kid, I didn’t ever want to go. Looking back, I’m mad as hell, because it sounds like a goddamn blast now that I can’t have it all the time.”

“You’ll have fun now.” Rick smiles. “Mom took Shane and I a couple times.”

“Shane…your makeout buddy?” Negan can’t help but tease.

“This was before that.” Rick answers curtly, looking a little flustered. “We weren’t even in middle school yet.” When Negan doesn’t speak, he keeps going. “We didn’t go to _this_ beach, but we went to _a_ beach. Shane was scared of the crabs. We got a few feet out into the water and they started scurryin’ by and he screamed even though he wasn’t bein’ attacked. It was great.”

“I don’t fucking blame him.” Negan laughs heartily. “Once those things clamp on, they don’t let go.”

“That’s true.” Rick agrees, smiling again. “Have you ever seen a horseshoe crab?”

Negan shrugs, a little confused by the sudden subject change. “…I dunno, Rick. Maybe on TV or some shit.”

“I like them.” Rick muses. “On our way back tomorrow, we should go to an aquarium. I’ll show you.”

Negan can’t say visiting an aquarium has been at the top of his list of things to do, but as long as they’re spending some time away from their shitty apartment, he’s game for just about anything. And Rick has this strange knack about him for making even the most boring and mundane things seem interesting, so he’s got no doubt in his mind that the other man is onto something here.

That said, he nods in agreement and they both fall silent. Negan drives well into the night. Rick falls asleep around midnight, and Negan notices he sleeps exceptionally well in cars. He wonders how many outings his family went on when he was younger, because it looks like he’s awfully used to being in a vehicle for a long time. He sleeps with the passenger’s seat reclined and his head turned to face Negan, a hand on the center console. It’s hard not to reach for that hand.

Especially when Rick shifts to his left side, facing Negan fully. Negan’s probably just hallucinating, but it’s like he can feel Rick’s warmth nearby now that the other man’s facing him more directly.

Negan wonders if Javi’s right. He knows that he and Rick are definitely close, but it’s not like they’re always all over each other. If Negan could be all over Rick, the other man would’ve known about his attraction to him _ages_ ago. It would have presented itself in a far more awkward way than their pool night conversation had.

He also wonders what Rick’s thinking. Is Negan on Rick’s mind as much as Rick is on Negan’s? Wouldn’t that be a fucking dream come true if he was?

Since when did this guy start being damn near everything Negan thought about in the first place?

“You’re overthinking it, dumbass.” Negan mutters aloud to himself. He’s never one to talk to himself, but seeing as he’s the only conscious one in the vehicle right now, he does anyway. He leans over to rest his forearm on the console, one hand on the steering wheel.

Rick stirs directly next to him, and it isn’t until Negan feels the tickle of the younger man’s fingertips on his forearm that he realizes Rick is actually shifting _closer_. Soon enough, the guy’s got his hand gently curled right around the inside of Negan’s elbow. He looks like he’s snoozing away, until he opens his mouth to speak.

“Must be somethin’ serious if you’ve got to tell yourself out loud.”

 _Shit_ , Negan adores this guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a little bit, sorry! Summer week was like ages ago and I'm still not done with this fic. xD I'm awful lmao.
> 
> Anyway, the aquarium bit? That's a nod to a couple of things.  
> a) I adore horseshoe crabs, so I just wanted to mention them  
> b) sinners0prayer wrote an aquarium scene in one of their lovely works, and I just really wanted to make a subtle nod at them because I respect the fuck out of their work.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this one!


	5. Word Vomit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning for this one: though it's not graphic, there are several mentions of vomiting. If that bothers you, I'm truly sorry!

“…Shit.”

Negan’s been sitting outside of the bathroom of a gas station now for just about half an hour. By Rick’s request, they pulled over because the other man had started to feel sick to his stomach. He’s been on-and-off barfing ever since. Thankfully, it’s nearly three in the morning and the only occupants of the small, rural gas station are Negan, Rick, and the cashier. Said cashier looks a little miffed, so Negan rolls his eyes at him.

“Isn’t your shift almost over?”

The cashier, who doesn’t look older than his late teens or early twenties, shrugs. “Got three more hours. Isn’t your friend done in the bathroom?”

“Does he fucking sound like he’s done?” Negan deadpans. “Don’t worry. If there’s a mess, I’ll clean it up.”

The cashier brightens almost instantly. “…Really?”

“…I’m right here, aren’t I?” Negan replies a little incredulously. “No reason I can’t do it.”

“You’d be surprised,” The cashier’s irritation seems to have washed away completely. His nametag reads ‘Noah’, Negan realizes. “We get a lot of drunks out here. Most of them completely miss the toilet.”

“See,” a grin breaks out on Negan’s lips as he cocks his head toward the supposed Noah, “right fucking there…that’s where Rick and I are breaking your monotonous-as-shit convenience store mold.” He nods to the door next to him, where Rick can be heard flushing the toilet. “This poor sap in here’s not drunk. If we’re being honest, I don’t have any clue what’s got his stomach tossing around like a slinky, but I can pinky promise you it’s not from alcohol.”

“Yikes.” Noah inhales sharply. “Better hope it’s not contagious.”

That response feels like a go-to answer for anyone’s persistent vomiting episodes, but Negan figures this kid just wants them to get out so he can go back to playing on his phone or whatever the fuck someone does all the way out here. Do phones even _get_ signal this far out into the boonies?

As he’s checking his phone and learning that yes, they do, the door swings open and Rick comes shuffling out. He looks like his stomach feels considerably better, but his forehead is beaded with sweat and his demeanor looks utterly defeated. Half an hour in the bathroom throwing up, though…that’ll do it to a person.

“Jesus,” Negan winces visibly, “you look like you could collapse any minute.”

Rick scoffs and shakes his head. “It’s not that bad. Let’s just get back to the car.”

Negan passes him the keys. “You go ahead. I’ll meet you out there in a sec.”

Rick doesn’t seem keen on arguing, so with a sluggish roll of the shoulders, he starts out the glass double doors and toward the vehicle awaiting him. Negan pivots and heads toward the bathroom to make good on his promise. When there’s not so much as a discarded paper towel on the ground, however, Negan emerges and instead focuses on getting something for Rick’s stomach.

Negan isn’t exactly the guru of dealing with nausea, but he does pick up a few essentials. By the time he’s made it to the counter to pay for his order, he’s got a bottle of water, one of those ridiculously expensive gas station brand boxes of antacid, and a package of cheese crackers. If Rick is anything like Negan, he’s not going to be hungry, but Negan’s going to try and push for him to take a few bites anyway.

The thing is, it happened so suddenly. One minute, they’d been happily on the road, Rick fast asleep in the passenger’s seat with his arm practically curled around Negan’s, and the next, he was wide awake and begging for Negan to make a pit stop at the nearest gas station.

Surely, the guy doesn’t have motion sickness. There’s no way they would have gotten so far on their drive if he had. And If they were going to make a long trip, Negan figures that Rick would have definitely warned him of any risk for motion sickness.

Maybe there’s a bug going around. Don’t they have one of those every year? Some sort of rampant stomach flu that ruins your life for anywhere between a day and a week? If Rick’s got one of those, it sucks that he’s dealing with it on the one night they’ve decided to leave their shitty, overheating apartment behind. But they’ll figure something out.

Negan offers Rick the bottle of water the instant he climbs back into the car. To his surprise, Rick accepts it and gets to work sipping right away.

“You alright?” Negan asks, a little tentatively.

“Been better,” Rick answers with a tired shrug. “Feel less like hell now that I’m not sick to my stomach, though.”

Negan starts the car. “Should we go back home?” It’s a valid question, considering how right before they’d stopped at the gas station, the GPS had been telling Negan they were not even an hour and a half outside of their destination. But if Rick wants to get back into his own bed, Negan wouldn’t blame him, either. At the very least, they got a nice drive away from the hellhole that is their apartment.

Rick shakes his head as he flops back against the headrest and closes his eyes. “Anywhere but there right now. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the heat that has me feelin’ this way.”

“Maybe,” Negan shrugs. “You’re not dehydrated, are you?” He remembers a time in his youth when his mother had been working long days mowing lawns for a factory with way too goddamned much acreage, and how she’d gone and gotten herself so dehydrated that she went nearly catatonic on the couch. A young Negan, probably nine or ten years old, had legitimately been afraid his mother was going to die on that couch and found himself crying on her chest, telling her she needed to get to feeling better. Even her water-sapped ass had laughed at him for that. Damn it.

Rick looks thoughtful, his eyes falling open and resting on Negan’s. “Could be. I didn’t really think much about it.”

Even sick, Rick looks like a goddamn angel. Negan only has the dim lighting of the gas station and the gentle glow of the navigation system to go by, but he can still see the sharp outlines of Rick’s face and the tired, pale blue eyes. Rick’s got strangely full lips, and after taking a fresh sip of water, they’re moist and glimmering. Negan’s stomach jumps up into his throat when he realizes that even half an hour of vomiting can’t make Rick any less captivating to him.

“Well,” Negan clears his throat, pushing the thoughts aside, “can’t fault you there. Not much thinking to be done when you’re hugging a toilet bowl. Anyway, we’ll keep going so we can get you to a bed. In the meantime, you focus on that water bottle.”

Rick doesn’t say a word. He just closes his eyes again, so Negan shifts the car into reverse and resumes their trip.

\--- --- --- --- ---

Considering the budget, the hotel room Negan and Rick have booked isn’t bad. It’s got a separate living space from the bedroom and bathroom, and the room is almost as air-conditioned as the car. With the wider amount of space, Negan’s a little impressed. Especially since they had to change their reservation to two nights to accommodate for the fact that they were checking in before the 11 AM cutoff time. Negan was nice enough to cover the extra day, himself.

He doesn’t give himself much time to think about it though, because his focus is on Rick, who is starting to look ill again.

“Here,” Negan motions with his hand, “don’t yark everywhere. Gimme your bags.”

He’s got no protest from Rick, who all-but drops them at Negan’s feet before stumbling toward the bathroom.

Instantly, Negan feels bad for the poor guy. While Rick’s got himself occupied, Negan tries to settle them both into their new room. He turns down the bed so Rick can get some sleep, and makes sure the bottled water he’d been sipping on is on the end table. In an afterthought, he leaves the crackers there as well, but from the sound of it, Rick won’t be touching those any time soon.

The beach isn’t right next to their hotel, so Negan doesn’t make any plans to go check it out without Rick there, too. Hell, he doesn’t think he’d have the heart to do so, anyway. He went on this trip to spend time with Rick, after all, and that’s what he’s going to do.

Negan wonders when he got so sweet on Rick like this. He’s always been fond of the guy, but genuinely worried about him? That’s a new one. Their past few days _have_ been pretty intense, though.

Either way, he doesn’t bother thinking too much about it. He hears the sink kick on and steps into the doorway as Rick rinses his mouth out. His hands are a little shaky, and that sheen of sweat has returned to his forehead.

“You running a fever?” Negan wonders aloud.

“I dunno.” Rick shakes his head. “I don’t feel like I do. Startin’ to think you were right about the dehydration.”

Negan sighs, and without thinking, reaches up to touch the side of Rick’s face, and then his neck, and then his forehead. Rick doesn’t _feel_ feverish, but Negan’s not exactly an expert. “Doesn’t explain why you can’t keep shit down.”

“Might be because we were in the car so long after I got sick the first time,” Rick thinks aloud. “I wouldn’t think too much about it.” A sleepy smile finds its way onto Rick’s lips, but it disappears just as soon as those blue eyes meet Negan’s. “…You really are worried, aren’t you?”

“A little,” Negan admits with a shrug. “I mean, what other idiot is going to live in that shitty apartment with me?”

As he helps Rick to bed and pushes a couple sips of water onto him, Negan opens up into the story about his mother. When he finishes off, Rick is outright laughing at him.

“I’m not that sick, Negan,” Rick chortles, before he takes another sip of water. “I’ll be fine soon enough. Just…let’s get some sleep, okay?”

Now sleep, Negan can definitely go for. It’s got to be right around six in the morning, and Negan’s been awake since early yesterday afternoon. He’s got no clue how long Rick is going to want to sleep, but he doesn’t suppose he’ll have any issues crashing right along with him. The beach is probably more fun at night, anyway, when they have a little more of the ocean to themselves.

“Sounds good to me.” Negan pats Rick’s forehead, checking once more for fever, before he pushes himself off the edge of the bed and moves for the living area.

“Where’re you goin’?”

Negan doesn’t speak. He just cocks an eyebrow and motions with his right hand to the couch. His expression speaks the ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ that he hasn’t yet bothered to verbalize.

“No.” Rick’s retort comes strangely quickly. “You’re not pullin’ that ‘good gentleman’ act on me. Just because they didn’t have any rooms with two beds doesn’t mean you’re sleepin’ on the couch.” Unceremoniously, Rick pats the mattress next to him. “Unless you’re afraid you’re gonna catch whatever I’ve got, you should get over here.”

Honestly, Negan hadn’t known until they’d checked in that the hotel room they’d booked had only had one bed. He’d never been too concerned, because he’d known they were both adults and that sharing a bed wasn’t as intimate as all the movies made it out to be. Even with his crush on Rick, Negan could keep his shit to himself. This whole thing is actually more about the fact that Rick needs his rest, and Negan doesn’t want to get in the way of that.

“…Negan.” Rick’s expression, despite how tired and sick he looks, bears nothing short of determination. “C’mon.”

There’s only a short amount of hesitation, before Negan shrugs and strips down to his boxers. He climbs into the bed next to Rick, who chuckles to himself and then smiles, letting his eyes fall shut.

“Thank you.”

And then, like the unpredictable little shit he is, Rick turns over, extends an arm, and places his hand atop Negan’s forearm. He seems to fall asleep almost instantly.

Negan follows suit moments later.

\--- --- --- --- ---

When Negan awakens, he isn’t sure what time it is, but he knows it’s late enough for it to have gone dark outside. The blackout curtains in the hotel bedroom are thick and do their job well of keeping out the light, but even with their influence, Negan can tell the sun has long-since set and their day at the beach has become a night at the beach instead.

He sits upright and casts a glance toward the alarm clock on his side of the bed. The digital numbers send a bright red ‘8:44’ radiating through the darkness of the room, letting Negan know that his suspicions regarding the time were correct.

Rick is no longer in the bed. The sheets on his side of the mattress are lumped off toward the foot of the bed, and when Negan realizes he’s gone, he turns to look toward the bathroom. Chances are, Rick’s back in there barfing up his intestines again.

Negan shifts to the edge of the mattress and stands up, moving toward the bathroom. He faintly hears the sound of rushing water behind the door. A shower faucet, rather than a sink faucet. It’s easy enough to assume that Rick’s bathing. Hopefully, that means he’s feeling a little better now that he’s got some rest under his belt.

Not long after Negan realizes Rick’s showering, the water shuts off. Negan hears the shower curtain swing open, and even from behind the bathroom door, he can smell the faint aroma of steam and shower gel. He involuntarily finds himself picturing Rick stepping out of the shower, his skin flushed with heat and moisture and his hair damp, curls bouncing. His lean chest—the same chest Negan had shamelessly ogled back during their late-night swim at their apartment—all steamy and warm and bare, right there within touching range…

“You can come in.”

Combined with Negan’s current train of thought, those words are understandably shocking. It’s like Rick has read his mind. Negan’s not stupid enough to think that his little ‘naked Rick’ fantasy is about to come to life in his favor, but his mind definitely still wanders. Just imagine if he could bring a hand up to that steam-moistened chest and gently urge Rick back against the counter…if Negan could heft him up onto the sink and kiss him until they’re both blue in the face. Rick undoubtedly has soft lips, and with how passionate he is about his studies and his job, he’s probably passionate about everything else. Kissing included.

And dating.

And, y’know, a long-term relationship with a guy he’d met on a dating site for anything _but_ dating.

Just then, the door swings open. Negan feels like Tom in the _Tom and Jerry_ cartoons, where Jerry does something really obnoxious and Tom screams to the ceiling in fright, because the door comes open so abruptly and yanks Negan so aggressively out of his very-not-okay thoughts. He curses about six times before he comes back to reality and sees Rick standing there in a pair of khaki shorts, smelling all levels of _is that Herbal Essences?_

How strange that Negan never noticed before what kind of shampoo Rick uses.

Smells nice on him, though.

“I told you to come in,” Rick deadpans when he lays eyes on Negan’s own shocked ones.

Negan immediately reasserts himself, clearing his throat. He wonders if Rick knows where his mind has been for the past handful of seconds, and then realizes with surprising rapidness that he doesn’t care. Rick already knows he has the hots for him, after all. In any case, he looks the smaller man up and down while Rick shrugs a short-sleeved gray button-up on and starts fastening it.

“You feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Rick smiles at Negan just as his gaze rises back up to his friend’s eyes, “A lot better. Guess I just needed some rest in an actual bed.”

Oh…right. Ever since their air conditioner had gone out, Rick had been camped out next to a window in the living room. He’d been exposed to incredible heat, the wind from the fan, the outside air as it shifted from day to night and then back to day again, and lord knows what else. Going back and forth between the heat of his apartment to his air-conditioned classroom (at least until it went out) probably hasn’t helped, either. But for the past fourteen hours or so, Rick has been in a real bed, in an air-conditioned hotel room, with a bottle of water at his disposal.

Even his face looks like it has more color. Those blue eyes fit in perfectly with his less-pale complexion, and the smile on his lips accents a fierce jawline that Negan adores even more when it’s got a grin attached to it.

“That’s good to hear,” Negan says with a smirk of his own. “I bet you’re hungry as fuck right now, aren’t you?”

“Not really.” Rick shrugs. “Right now, I just want some fresh air.” His blue eyes twinkle a bit at that. “Y’know, like out at the beach.”

There’s something there—something Negan isn’t sure if it’s been there this whole time or if it just showed up, but it’s there now. It rests deep inside Rick’s stare, and it holds Negan to the spot by the gut, as if he’s tethered with a rope to the ground. He doesn’t want to move, unless it’s forward, toward Rick. And he’s got this sneaking sensation that Rick’s holding on to that something on purpose.

Like he wants Negan to be drawn to him, too.

So strange to be thinking this when Negan and Rick have both established their mutual interest in one another. Fuck, it’s strange that they haven’t acted on it. With how close they’ve been lately, Negan doesn’t imagine a relationship is going to ruin anything they have going on right now. Hell, he doubts it’ll make much of a difference at all, aside from how they’d probably doing a lot more making out.

Which Negan clearly recalls Javi saying, almost exactly to the syllable.

“Negan.”

How many times has Negan been distracted by his own thoughts, now? In just the past five minutes, no less. That realization draws a laugh up from the base of Negan’s throat, before he rolls his shoulders and cocks his head.

“You’re not gonna barf while we’re out there, are you?” He teases.

“I told you,” Rick retorts with the tiniest ounce of annoyance on his face, “I feel better.”

“Sure you don’t want to go eat something, first?” Negan tries again, to which Rick rolls his eyes.

“No, I want to go to the beach. Isn’t that why we came out here in the first place? Time’s a-wastin’, Negan.”

“You did _not_ just fucking say ‘time’s a-wastin’’.”

“I did.”

Rick takes then to stare Negan down, and it’s in that moment that Negan realizes this guy really is feeling better. That spark is back in his expression, and this determination isn’t something a sick Rick Grimes could have managed hours ago in between vomiting episodes.

How in the fuck is he supposed to say no to that?

\--- --- --- --- ---

It’s well past nine-thirty when Rick and Negan finally find themselves out on the coast. The beach is a good ten minutes or so from their hotel room, and before letting them leave, Negan had spent some time arguing with Rick about how he needed to bring his bottle of water with him.

 _“Just because you’re not puking anymore doesn’t’ mean you’re all fucking better, Rick,_ ” Negan had pushed, but Rick had been stubborn. It was nighttime and it wasn’t going to be as hot out, and they weren’t going to spend forever out on the sand anyway. All good points, because they’re going to have to leave early in the morning in order for them both to get back in time for their respective obligations. Javi isn’t going to be happy if Negan decides to fuck up on two work days in a row after all, and Rick actually has a shift at the station that evening.

Despite that, Rick had stubbornly talked Negan out of making him lug a plastic bottle around during their evening together, by way of a compromise that included him taking a decent swig on the beverage before they left their hotel.

It isn’t hot outside at all. The ocean breeze is just cooling enough to make it feel comfortable walking along the beach in just a pair of shorts and a shirt. Rick and Negan both stroll out into the sand, just a couple yards from the shore. They can hear the tide gently pushing the water up onto the coast with a soft ‘ _hiss_ ’, and in reverse, the same noise when the water recedes. The air smells moist and salty, and Negan inhales it in large gulps. This is just the kind of trip he needed, even if it had been preceded by a very nauseous Rick Grimes.

Said Rick Grimes is the first to break the silence. “Thanks for sleepin’ with me.” As per usual, he’s got his attention focused straight ahead, and seems to find nothing odd in the statement he’d just offered. Rick’s a strange guy though—Negan’s learning this quickly. He doesn’t operate by your typical Guy Code. It doesn’t seem to matter to him that most of the behaviors he has exhibited with Negan lately could be easily interpreted as romantic. Then again, as far as Negan can remember from their several months living together, Rick has never done much giving a damn when it comes to what other people think.

“…Uh, sure,” Negan answers with a shrug. He’s walking right alongside Rick as they search for a good place to stop and enjoy their beach visit. It doesn’t look like they’re going to settle on one any time soon. The breeze and the feeling of the sand beneath Negan’s feet is honestly enough for him. The beach stretches wide along the little coastal town they’re in, so they’ve got plenty of path to walk along. “Didn’t realize you wanted me to—I kind of figured you were just being the fucking nice guy. You know, not being a jackass by making me break my back sleeping on a couch.”

“I was,” Rick responds, still looking as calm and unaffected by the words as ever. “But at the same time, it was nice havin’ you there. You’re a big jerk, Negan, but I like you.”

“ _I like you._ ”

Negan isn’t trying to stare. He can’t help it. As he and Rick keep walking, he’s staring the other man down with a half-shocked expression on his features, because even though he already knows about Rick’s feelings for him, they’re _still_ just friends. Negan supposes he could take his chances and fix that problem by swooping in and stealing a kiss right now, but he also doesn’t want to cross any boundaries. When it comes to romantic advances, Negan has a _very_ strong sense of morals.

So he instead clears his throat and turns his head to watch the water as they continue walking. “…I like you too, Rick. Though I’m sure you’re already plenty goddamn aware of that.”

“I am.” Rick sounds pleased. “But that’s not what I meant. I was talkin’ in general. I think you’re a real nice person.”

_Why?_

Negan doesn’t think he’s the worst person in the world by any means, but in the months he’s spent with Rick, he finds it hard to imagine that the younger man hasn’t been using all this time putting up with Negan, rather than living with him. Negan knows he can be overwhelming, and even though he tries hard to keep that shit reeled in, he does get carried away.

Apparently, Rick doesn’t see it like that.

Javi’s words are making more and more sense every minute.

“Have you met me?” Negan snorts, looking genuinely amazed. “I give you shit on a regular fucking basis, Rick. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the nipplet discussion. I’ll be wounded if you have.”

“No,” Rick growls, “I haven’t. But I also haven’t forgotten how you work extra hours to help cover some of my half of the bills, how you are always bringin’ me drinks from your job, and how you just about didn’t let me leave the hotel a little bit ago because you were afraid that the _moon_ might be so hot that it’d make me even more dehydrated.”

Rick looks so proud of himself, and because of it, Negan’s internal need to wipe that expression off the guy’s face kicks in. He opens his mouth and, not surprisingly, says something totally unnecessary.

“Maybe it’s because I want to get into your pants.”

The pride falls right off of Rick’s face, and Negan pales.

Why is he like this?

Silence surrounds them. Even the tide seems to quiet down. Rick stops walking, and Negan does the same. He can’t take his eyes off of the smaller man, who seems lost deeply in thought. At the very least, Rick doesn’t look upset.

Eventually, he turns his focus to Negan. He looks pensive. “I’m not stupid, Negan. Of course I know you want to get into my pants. But I hate when you say it like that.”

Negan bites his lip. “Sorry, Rick. I thought I was being funny, but I took it a little too fucking far that time, huh?”

“Maybe,” Rick admits. “But I know you wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want you to. I just also know sex isn’t all you think about.”

Oh shit, here comes the word vomit again…

“Not gonna lie, Rick,” Negan clears his throat, “it’s been on my mind a lot.” He quickly catches himself, though, and works to deliver a proper explanation. “What I mean is, you’ve got me wrapped around your little finger, and it’s hard _not_ to think about that kind of thing. I mean, I’m not gonna do anything you don’t want me to do, but—”

Rick brings a hand up to silence him. Negan notices the amusement on his face. “I know, Negan. What I’m sayin’ is, you’ve got a lot more you like about me than the potential of hookin’ up with me.”

“If we’re being totally fucking honest here,” Negan agrees, “I’ve been able to keep my thoughts PG-13 up until recently. You can thank Javi for the hike in the rating.”

“Javi?” Rick snorts. “What’s he got to do with us?”

“He’s our first fan, baby,” Negan jokes. “Claims he doesn’t think a relationship will ruin our friendship.”

Rick raises an eyebrow. “Why’s he think that?”

Negan shrugs. “He says we already act like we’re dating. Apparently, we’re always giving each other goo-goo eyes.”

“Well,” Rick chuckles, “you do make a convincing pair of goo-goo eyes, Negan.”

“S’cuse the fuck out of me, Rick,” Negan retorts, giving the other man a playful shove, “but have you _seen_ your baby blues? You could put glass-eyed dolls to goddamn shame.”

“That’s a gross exaggeration.” Rick actually scowls, making Negan laugh harder. “Though you do stare a lot.”

“For good fucking reason,” Negan points out. “I’ve got a hell of a lot to appreciate.”

Rick’s next question tells Negan he’s fishing to see what else he likes about him. “…Like what?” He’s stopped walking again.

“Well, for starters,” of course, Negan jumps right on that opportunity, “you’ve got an ass that models dream of having.”

“I’m aware of your interest in my ass,” Rick replies dully.

“Shut up, I’m not done,” Negan frowns, before he clears his throat and jumps right back into his explanation. “You’re shaped perfectly in just about every way. Your face makes my fingers tingle just thinking about getting my hands on it. You’ve got this sharp jaw…”

Rick surprises Negan by grabbing his hand and placing it on the side of his face. Negan sees him swallow a lump in his throat. Of course, the older man can’t stop himself from taking Rick up on the offer and brushing the pad of his thumb along the side of his friend’s face and curling his fingers around the aforementioned jawline. Rick’s allowed his beard to grow out just about half an inch, and it feels far too enticing beneath Negan’s skin.

“Keep goin’,” Rick orders calmly.

It’s hard to do so, though. When all Negan wants to do is shove Rick down into that sand and kiss him until he can’t breathe, but he’s not sure he’s going to get that chance, he’s having trouble deciding where to draw the line. He’s trying hard not to lead himself on right now.

But like he’d admitted to Rick just moments ago, he’s wrapped around the guy’s finger, so he does exactly as he’s told.

“You’ve got the prettiest goddamn hair, Rick,” Negan continues, though his gaze is on Rick’s eyes instead of his hair. “And your eyes…I wasn’t kidding earlier. They’re seriously something else. Easy as fuck to get lost in them.”

Rick laughs, though it’s a gentle one. He’s not bothered by Negan’s words—just amused. “That’s corny.”

“Do you want me to keep going or not?” Negan questions. “Because you’re killing this boner real fucking fast when you say shit like that.”

Rick shuts up instantly. “Don’t stop.”

 _Don’t_ fucking _stop_.

That little shit, with his way-too-convenient word choice. Fuck him for being so damned perfect.

“That’s what I thought.” Negan, despite his thoughts, manages a smirk, as he drags his thumb to Rick’s lower lip. “These…you got no fucking idea how much time I’ve spent today alone thinking about kissing these.”

Negan feels Rick inhale a shaky breath through the gesture. He counts it as a small victory, but continues speaking before he loses his train of thought and acts without regard to consequence.

“And that’s just the aesthetic shit. Rick, you should see the way you do things. You fully engage in just about everything you commit to, from your job to your classes—your studies are gonna fucking kill you, by the way—to how you devour that giant mess of cheese and sour cream you like with a couple bites of baked potato somewhere lost inside.”

Rick flushes visibly. “It’s more than a couple—”

“Shut up,” Negan’s voice is curt, but his expression soft. He can feel the admiration for Rick emanating off his own demeanor and radiating toward Rick’s. “The point is, I mean it when I say I’ve got a lot to appreciate. Fuck, I honestly _adore_ you, Rick. The reason Javi even brought up that you and I should get together was because I couldn’t stop talking about you—”

Rick’s hand atop Negan’s silences him right away. He stares down at the fingers, before he turns his gaze back up to Rick’s eyes. He scans the smaller man’s face, down to the smile on his full lips, up past his nose, and to that perfect set of eyes that refuse to leave Negan’s. Rick shakes his head, before he exhales a sigh Negan didn’t even see he was holding in.

“…This is crazy,” Rick observes, and Negan thinks his hand might be shaking. “You’re crazy. _I’m_ crazy.”

“Why?” Negan’s pretty sure he knows the answer already, but he’s still got to find out for sure. He doesn’t imagine he can rest until he does. “Is it really so fucking insane that you and I might be—”

“No.” Rick shakes his head. “I just…never thought it would get to this point.”

“…What point?” Negan swallows.

Rick bites his lip. The skin comes back shiny and wet when he releases it from his teeth. “To the point where I wanted you to stop talkin’ and make a move.”

In a way, Negan understands. Despite having met on OkCupid of all things, the men had been under the agreement that their arrangements would hold no romantic obligations. They’d both just needed a little help with the rent, and been willing to try it out for a while. Negan had been flirtatious early on, but that was just his nature. He had never expected Rick to reciprocate.

But he’d also never expected to hit it off with the guy as well as he did. If he’d been told several months ago that he’d be standing on the beach, heart in his throat, thinking about something _more_ than a quick one-night fling with anyone, he’d have probably laughed in that person’s face.

Right now, though, Negan can’t contain himself. Rick’s invited him in, and like he promised on that night in the pool, he’s gonna take whatever the man gives him. And right now, it’s to kiss him.

In an instant, Negan’s got his free hand on the other side of Rick’s face, and he’s dipping down to close the distance between them. Just like he expected, Rick’s lips are soft and full against his own. His stubble scratches Negan’s chin as he closes his mouth over Rick’s, but it’s nice. Everything about it is nice.

Negan feels Rick’s breathing hitch, before the other man’s hands snake up to find either side of his partner’s face. Negan all-but melts into that feeling, and as he tilts his head and lets himself slip further into their shared embrace, he drops his hands down and curls them around Rick’s waist. Rick’s fingers slide up into Negan’s hair, their lips part, their bodies shift closer together, and just when Negan’s sure his lungs are about to burst, he pulls back just enough to look at the other man.

Rick’s eyes are half-lidded, gaze focused down on Negan’s mouth. He looks a weird mix between sleepy and shocked, but within seconds, he breaks out into a huge grin and slips right back in.

Negan isn’t sure what he expected from this trip, but damn if he doesn’t feel lucky as shit right now. Making out with someone he’s got it bad for, the ocean air surrounding them, and not a care in the fucking world…

It’s too goddamned bad they don’t have one more day to dedicate to this.


	6. Cold Showers

The fifth day waiting for the air conditioner is spent with Rick and Negan apart from one another the entire time. Rick has class during the earlier part of the day, and then he has a night shift at the station that evening. Negan has to work, and it’s frankly been a long-ass time since he last bothered with his studies. He’s missed a couple of days of school in his desperation to survive the summer heat, and the last thing he wants is to flunk out and have spent all this money on classes for naught.

Before going to work, Negan had tried to convince Rick to stay home and just call in sick from his own shift that night, but after blowing money on two days in a hotel room, gas money to get to the coast, and a few other minor expenses, they both know they can’t afford to miss a day for a while. It sucks, living paycheck to paycheck.

The night of that first physical exchange between Negan and Rick had gone by far too quickly for Negan’s tastes. Neither of them had had the heart to let things escalate beyond the point of kissing and maybe a little bit of groping. Negan had taken Rick’s ass into both his hands at some point that evening, but for the most part, they’d just spent their time with their bodies pressed closely together and their mouths inseparable.

And Negan hadn’t minded it. Rick had tasted so good and been so needy and eager with his movements. One moment, he’d have his arms around Negan’s shoulders, and the next, he’d be pulling the larger man in close by a grip around his waist. They would hold hands as they walked a few yards along the beach, and then they’d start making out again. It was no surprise that they eventually ended up right back in that hotel room, kissing languidly atop one another on the bed.

Don’t get Negan wrong. He’d wanted—hell, he still does—to strip those pants off of Rick’s body and fuck him right into that mattress. But what they’d had going that night had been plenty. Rick hadn’t seen fit to move things any further, and Negan, hard-on be damned, had been perfectly fine with his lips on the other man’s and their hips slowly grinding together.

For Negan, it had been a time to reflect. With every movement of his mouth on Rick’s, he’d found himself thinking that, _holy shit_ , he had actually made a move. He still isn’t sure what this means for their relationship, but once they’d worn themselves out kissing and rolling around in that hotel bed, they’d curled up together as if they’d been married for years and held one another close like lovers.

They hadn’t gotten to go to the aquarium like Rick had wanted, but in light of other events, he hadn’t seemed to mind.

Even at work, Negan thinks about it. He thinks about how he needs to formally ask Rick what this means for them, and how he can still taste Rick on his tongue. He operates in a bubble, and his work pace is quick and efficient, as he’s not distracted by his phone or Javi’s presence or anything else. All that’s on his mind is Rick, Rick, Rick, clear until his shift is just about over.

And then, he remembers that he’s not going to get to see Rick for long. He’ll get home between eight-thirty and nine, and Rick will have to be at the station by ten. The poor guy is probably exhausted, and Negan isn’t one-hundred percent certain Rick is recovered from the little dehydration spell he’d encountered on their trip. He sure wishes he’d managed to convince Rick to call in to work. But he also supposes they’ve got plenty more months together if the heated touching and making out from their night on the beach is any indicator.

Negan is just on the way out the door from his job when Javi’s voice pipes up from behind the cigarette wall.

“Wanna go drinking?”

Negan lets the door fall back shut and turns to face the counter. By now, Javi has popped out from his spot stocking cigarettes and is leaning against the table next to his register, staring across it at his coworker.

“What?” Negan teases, crossing his arms over his chest. “Not gonna spend all night chatting up your man-candy on Skype?”

Javi hesitates, and then digs into his pocket, withdrawing the shiny new iPhone he purchased the previous month. “They have a mobile version, you know.”

“So you’re just gonna be sexting him while getting wasted with me on the side,” Negan observes, still smirking. In return, Javi rolls his eyes.

“No,” Garcia retorts, “I’m not. Believe it or not, I want to spend some time with a dear friend. Jesus understands.”

Oh, yeah. Did Negan mention that the guy Javi’s so gung-ho over goes by ‘Jesus’? It’s not his real name. _Paul_ something-or-other is his real name, but the nickname ‘Jesus’ is kind of cool in Negan’s book. He’s seen pictures, too. It’s no wonder the guy goes by that name, with his long beard and hair. If this whole thing between the two of them works out, maybe Negan will be able to meet the guy in the future.

“Promise I’m not gonna catch you sending drunken dick pics?” Negan continues to tease. He dodges a flying box of Marlboro full flavor 100s, then dips down and tosses the box back to Javi, who catches it with ease. “You’re losing your touch, baseball boy.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Javier snaps back. “Just say ‘yes’, already.”

Negan shrugs. “Fine, fine. There’s that place down the street from my place. We get too wasted, you can come crash there with me.”

Javi wrinkles his nose. “Didn’t you say your air conditioner was out?”

“Still is,” Negan answers.

“Then fuck no. I’m not sweating it out all night.”

“I’m saying ‘yes’, you moron,” Negan rolls his eyes.

\--- --- --- --- ---

“You sure you don’t want to call in?” Negan tries again, even though Rick’s already in uniform and spraying himself with cologne. “Javi and I were gonna go drinking. Be fun as fuck to have you with us.”

“You know I can’t do that, Negan.” Rick doesn’t look like he wants to go to work either. “Knowin’ the way karma works, we’d go drinkin’ at the same bar where there’s a public disturbance and everyone in the precinct will find out I’m not really sick.”

“You _are_ , though,” Negan retorts. “You’re dehydrated.”

“And alcohol makes dehydration worse,” Rick reminds him matter-of-factly, before he dusts himself off and then moves to the doorway, where Negan’s standing. He stops a few inches in front of him and glances up apologetically at him. “I can’t miss work tonight, Negan, I’m sorry. You and I both know we can’t afford it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Negan shrugs, “I know. That’s fine, baby.”

“ _Baby,_ ” Rick repeats, emphasizing the word heavily. “Is that what I am now? Your baby?”

Negan smiles invitingly. “If you want to be, yeah. If last night was any indicator, _fuck yeah._ ” He can literally feel the tension rising in the already sweltering hot doorway to the bathroom. Rick’s got to be burning up in that security guard uniform, though it doesn’t show on his face. In fact, the only thing Negan sees on Rick’s face is playful curiosity.

Rick cups the side of Negan’s face and then tips his head to press a kiss to the taller man’s jaw. “I’d like that.”

Not surprisingly, Negan can’t stop himself from turning to catch Rick’s lips against his own. Despite the oppressive heat of their non-air-conditioned apartment, Negan still brings his arms around Rick’s waist to pull him in closer, and not unlike the previous night, they soon find themselves engulfed in a spell of deep kissing. By the time they pull away, they’re both out of breath and sweaty and Negan’s fairly certain he can feel a bit of hardness pressing against his thigh from the crotch of Rick’s uniform pants.

“Then that’s who you are,” Negan smiles through the arousal evident on his face. “Baby, darlin’, what the fuck ever…as long as it’s _my_ baby, or _my_ darlin’, or…well, you get the point.”

“I do.” Rick presses against him once more, and Negan becomes aware that, yes, that is definitely _not_ a gun in his pocket.

He laughs. “Y’know, _baby_ , I could give you a quick fix to the growing problem you got in your pants right now.”

Negan feels Rick’s fingertips, which he didn’t realize were on his chest until just now, stammer against him. He watches the younger man swallow down a lump in his throat, before he shakes his head. “M’sorry, Negan. No time. I’ll see you after work, okay?”

Negan sees the longing in Rick’s face, which makes his heart do about three flips. He doesn’t bother stopping himself from pulling the other man in for yet another kiss, and when he pulls away again, he nods slowly. “I understand. Take it easy at work, Rick. Drink a fuckton of water.”

“I know,” Rick rolls his eyes. “Thanks, Negan.”

As if that’s a good enough farewell for the evening, Negan backs away from the doorframe and lets Rick exit the bathroom. He tucks his hands into his pockets and watches Rick scoop up his keys. They exchange one last lingering pair of matching stares, before Rick heads out the door and it swings shut heavily behind him.

And then it’s just Negan. He curses under his breath and adjusts himself, before he decides to hop into the shower to get ready for his night out drinking with Javi.

\--- --- --- --- ---

“You missed it, big time,” Javi tells Negan as the two seat themselves at a booth inside the bar. It is indeed the place Negan suggested, and it looks like something straight out of the movies. It’s got pool tables scattered about the building, a dance floor off to one side, and partiers everywhere. Fluorescent lights with advertisements for different brands of alcohol hang from the ceilings and above the pool tables, and music blares so loudly that it vibrates the brick walls of the building. Negan and Javi have retreated as far away from the speakers as they can get.

Javi still has to raise his voice to tell his story, though. “You left like five minutes before it happened, but this guy comes in and sits at the tables we have up along the window, right?” He doesn’t wait for Negan to confirm his question. “He waltzes in, three fucking sheets to the wind on god-knows-what, and comes up to the counter. Before he even looks at the deli case, he tells me he needs a burrito. Deli’s already closed, though.”

“I know,” Negan laughs. “I closed it.”

“Shut up,” Javi rolls his eyes. “Anyway, I tell him the deli’s closed and he straight up says he doesn’t believe me. Walks over to the empty case and gawks at it like I’ve got his entire life savings in there or some shit. And then he turns back over to me, looks at me with actual tears in his eyes, and calls me a ‘fucking pig’. Guess he thought I ate everything in the deli case.”

Negan snickers. “I mean, you _do_ like the corn dogs.”

“I didn’t eat his fucking burritos, though!” Javi raises both hands into the air, before he drops one and takes a swig of the rum and coke he’s ordered. “But he doesn’t believe me! Fucker tries to call corporate! I actually had to explain to those assholes that our deli here isn’t twenty-four hours. Figured they’d know that, but whatever.”

“What’d they say?” Negan questions as he downs his beer.

“They told me to go ahead and cook him a burrito,” Javi shrugs, “which pissed me off, right? I’ve got to start getting my register ready for my relief to come in, and here they are, telling me to take fifteen minutes I don’t have. Thankfully, the drug-addled dumbass didn’t seem keen on the idea of waiting for the fryer to heat back up. He just told me I deserved to have my dick cut off and stormed out. All over a burrito.”

“Customer service, man,” Negan laughs. “Good job getting through it, though. Anyway,” he nods to the phone Javi’s been absentmindedly flipping over repeatedly on his table, “how’s your boyfriend been? Is that what you guys are? Boyfriends?”

“I think so,” Javi shrugs. “We haven’t exactly gotten around to calling it that, but he wants to come and visit, and there’ve been, y’know, moments.”

“Moments,” Negan repeats. He knows that all-too-well. But with Javi and Jesus so far apart from one another, he doubts those moments are quite like what’s been going on between himself and Rick. Which, mind you, he’s going to keep to himself for now. Last thing he needs is Javier Garcia losing his damn mind in the middle of this bar about how Negan and Rick finally got together. He doubts it’ll be as enticing to the other bargoers as it is to either of them.

“Yeah…y’know, moments,” Javi looks sheepish for a second, before he unlocks his phone and does some scrolling. He extends the phone out to Negan. “Like this.”

There’s a conversation Negan supposes Javi expects him to scroll through, so he does just that. Jesus says things like ‘ _I miss you like crazy_ ’, and ‘ _can’t wait to meet you_ ’, and there’s this whole part where he tells Javi how he’s a really good judge of character, and how he thinks Javi is someone who has a lot of growing to do, but he wants to be there to see him make those steps. Negan blinks at the screen, before he passes it back to his friend. By now, Javi is pathetically staring into his empty glass. He almost looks embarrassed.

“…He knows about your old career, then,” Negan observes aloud.

Javier nods. “We’ve been hitting it off really well, and I didn’t want it to get serious without him knowing that there’s a reason I don’t live in Baltimore anymore. I’m not gonna lie to him about anything.”

“Sounds like he appreciates the fuck out of that, Javi.” Negan offers his friend, who is now looking up at him, a genuine smile. “No secrets, and all of that. Gives me the impression that you’re really into this whole thing.”

“Stupidly,” Javi laughs at himself. “I like him…a _lot_. I’m supposed to be focusing on a new life here, but I’ve actually thought about moving to Virginia for this guy.”

Negan shrugs. “I don’t have any goddamn room to talk. I moved for a guy I met on a dating site.”

“Yeah,” Javi’s still chuckling a little, “that’s a pretty dumb move, Negan. You got lucky with that one.”

“Yeah,” Negan grins proudly, “I did. I could be stuck with your ass instead of his.”

“Fuck yourself,” Javi sneers.

From then, the men devolve into general bullshittery. They talk about work, and about the different people rushing about in the bar. As the night wears on and their blood-alcohol levels increase, they shift so that they’re on the same side of the booth together and bicker over the teams on the camp-building game they’re both hooked on. It’s just about three in the morning before the bartenders start sending everyone home.

Predictably, Javi is too drunk to drive back to his place, and Negan’s too far gone to give him a ride. He supposes they could call a taxi, but the Javier Garcia after the alcohol seems to mind sleeping in a sweltering hot apartment much less than the one before. This Javi is all slumped over against the brick wall outside the bar, massaging his forehead.

“Too bad Rick has to work tonight,” Javi slurs, “because he’d get to see you fifty shades of fucking wasted, Negan.”

Negan doesn’t think he’s as drunk as Javi is, but he supposes there’s no telling since he’s definitely feeling the alcohol pretty well. He is, however, still with it enough to know that he and Javi need to get home and get some water into their systems before the booze has them fighting over the toilet bowl.

“He’d probably laugh,” Negan jokes as he tugs his friend away from the wall and directs him down the street toward their apartment. “And then he’d be the sweet fucking angel he is and nurse me back to health.”

“Eww,” Javi snorts. “None of the boyfriend shit right now, please.”

“You normally eat this kind of thing up like candy,” Negan retorts. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous because your squeeze lives so far away…”

“Well,” Javi shrugs, “he does, doesn’t he?”

“When’s he coming to visit?” Negan asks. Last he knew, the ETA was a few months, but that was a month ago, and according to the messages Javi had shown him, the urgency between the two men has greatly increased. It’s kind of sweet, honestly.

“Two months from now,” Javi sighs. “But I’m trying to talk him into coming sooner. Unfortunately, money’s an issue.”

Negan honestly feels bad for his friend. He can’t bring himself to say more about it, because he doesn’t want to ruin the good mood that has been going throughout the duration of this night. So instead, he curls an arm around his friend’s waist and they walk arm-in-arm to Negan’s place.

In the end, they both decide to crash out in the living room, on the floor in front of the window. Javier is facing the window head-on, with a pillow, a bottle of ibuprofen, and an empty water glass all surrounding him. Negan faces the hallway, directly next to his friend. He’s actually pretty concerned that Javi might wake up and start hurling everywhere, so he’s been making a point to stick by his side. Naturally, he’s been sleeping lightly.

So it’s no surprise that he comes to when Rick gets home. The first moments of daylight are just starting to present themselves at a little after seven in the morning, and Negan opens his eyes to see a very tired-looking Rick Grimes shuffling in. Said Rick Grimes sees that Negan’s awake, and offers him a sleepy smile.

“He pass out?” Rick whispers, nodding toward Javi.

Negan offers him a nod. “Yeah, around four.” He pushes himself up into a sitting position, and immediately regrets it. The alcohol hasn’t worn off entirely, so he’s still pretty dizzy from its effects. He should’ve known better than to start drinking tequila after beer. After all, isn’t there some old saying? ‘ _Beer before liquor, never been sicker_ ’ or some shit like that?

“Is he alright?” Rick questions as he sheds bits and pieces of his uniform. It’s once he’s down to his pants and the white undershirt that he stops.

“I think he is, yeah,” Negan answers. “We got pretty fucking wasted last night.”

“I can tell,” Rick wrinkles his nose. “The living room smells like booze. And you look like you’re still drunk.”

“Probably a little,” Negan admits. “But nothing a glass of water and some more sleep can’t fix right the hell up.”

“Good,” Rick smiles, “because I’m exhausted.”

Negan watches Rick move into the kitchen, fill up a glass with water from the tap, and then head back into the living room. He offers the water to Negan, who drinks slowly as he watches Rick strip down to just his undershirt and boxers. The smaller man gives Negan time to finish off his glass of water, use the restroom, and then lie down, before he slinks in between his partner and Javi and pulls Negan’s arms around his waist.

Javi is still blissfully unaware.

“Missed you,” Rick mutters. Negan can feel the smaller man’s fingers dancing along his forearms.

“You too, baby,” Negan coos. Rick’s presence is working wonders on sobering him up, and having his partner all pressed up against his chest is waking him up in more ways than one. “Been thinking about you all evening.”

“Mmm...” Rick probably isn’t trying to be sexy right now, but that doesn’t stop it from happening. His voice is raspy with exhaustion, and his words slow and running together. “I like the way you say that.”

“Say what?” Negan can’t stop himself from pressing a kiss to the nape of Rick’s neck. He hears the other man inhale sharply, and he exhales deeply in response. “ _Baby_? You like the way I call you that?”

“Jeez…” Rick shivers and pushes himself further back against Negan’s chest. He probably doesn’t mean to rock his ass back against Negan’s groin, but that doesn’t stop the friction from being there. “Yeah, I do…”

Negan knows Rick’s aware of Javi’s presence right next to them. Surely, he isn’t expecting things to…well, keep going?

Not that Negan would mind. He can be quiet.

But can Rick?

Negan’s confirmation comes in the form of Rick whispering to break the silence.

“...Say it again.”

“Rick…”

“Please…” Rick’s low voice comes out almost as a whine, and how in the fuck is Negan supposed to say no to that?

“Oh my god…” Negan all-but moans against the skin of Rick’s neck. “Baby, you’re such a fucking turn-on right now.”

“Negan…” Rick’s grip on Negan’s forearm stutters. “Again.”

“Goddamn…” Negan’s trying hard to keep his voice low, but he doesn’t know how much longer it’s going to last. At the very least, Javi doesn’t appear to be stirring next to them. He dares to grind his hips forward, letting Rick feel the fullness of his growing erection against his ass. “Baby…when you talk like that, you drive me crazy.”

Rick’s breathing grows shaky as he tries to contain his voice. Negan feels his partner’s hand slide down along his forearm until it has a hold on his fingers, and then he guides the limb to the crotch of his boxers.

“Oh, _fuck…_ ” Negan can’t stifle the curse as his fingers come into contact with Rick’s own stiffening arousal. “Rick, _baby_ …tell me what you want from me.”

“Just...” Rick all but whimpers. “Just touch me.”

That, Negan can do. He silences himself by way of closing his mouth over the crook of Rick’s neck, while his fingers get to work palming Rick through the thin material of his underwear. He likes the way he can feel Rick getting harder in his grip, and when the smaller man starts to rut his hips into the touch, Negan has to bite back a moan. He does so into Rick’s skin, which elicits a hiss from the younger man.

“Careful, darlin’…” Negan whispers, breath hot on Rick’s neck. “Don’t want to wake sleeping beauty over there…”

“Sh…shut up.” Rick’s determination is adorable. Especially when it’s so heavily overshadowed by arousal and pleasure that said determination is heavily outweighed by other things.

Negan obeys, and instead focuses on sliding his hand into Rick’s boxers. He moans lowly against his partner’s skin when he feels the heat of Rick’s erection under his fingers. He’s so hard and full that Negan can feel everything from the stiff vein on the underside of Rick’s cock to the soft skin at the tip. Curiously, he drags his thumb over the head.

Rick bites down hard onto his own forearm, trying to keep himself quiet. Negan’s impressed.

Of course, Javi chooses that moment to turn over and face the other way. Rick and Negan both go silent and their movements still altogether. It’s such a sudden freeze that Negan’s hand still hasn’t left Rick’s shorts, and Rick seems to be holding his breath.

Until they both notice that Javi is still asleep.

They both burst out into breathy laughter, and Negan pulls his hand from Rick’s rapidly-softening erection.

“Mood’s dead?” Negan chuckles. He’s not even mad. In fact, he can’t believe he just about got it on with Rick right next to his best friend.

“Yeah, mood’s dead.” Rick sighs, before he pivots and faces Negan. On pure instinct, Negan extends his arms and tugs his new boyfriend in close. They fall asleep with Rick’s head nestled on Negan’s shoulder and Negan’s free arm slung lazily over Rick’s waist.

\--- --- --- --- ---

The next day, Negan actually emails his professor. Lucky for him, most of this class is online courses and even though he’s got a lot of making up to do, he can do it at home, on the computer. He gets a lecture from his professor, but said professor also offers him a week’s extension on his coursework when Negan explains the situation. Apparently, the guy has a lot of pity for poor fuckers who don’t have air conditioning in their homes. Negan didn’t actually expect the explanation to work, but hey, he’ll take it.

At the very least, he doesn’t have work today. It’s Sunday, which means it’s the last day before they’re supposed to get their new air conditioning unit installed, and with Rick pulling a morning shift at work and then having an afternoon class, that means Negan is by himself in his sauna of a living room, trying to figure out what to do with his time.

He decides to use it by being responsible and working on his studies. Negan’s got the living room back in a normal arrangement, with the coffee table in front of the couch and his laptop opened up atop it. He’s used an extension cord to bring the fan to said coffee table, though, so he can get as much of its breeze as possible. It’s almost overwhelming, and it does little more than blow a bunch of hot air around, but at least Negan can breathe.

He’s got the reading glasses he rarely ever uses on his face while he scrolls through lists upon lists of topics for a report he’s supposed to have finished by last week. On the right side of his laptop is a notebook, where Negan has attempted to scribble down a few topics, but the fan’s breeze has long-since blown the pages over, so they aren’t visible right now.

Either way, Negan’s working hard. The house is clean and even though he’s sweating in places he wishes he didn’t have to learn produced sweat, he’s getting shit done. Believe it or not, he doesn’t want to flunk out of school, no matter how little interest he has in actually getting a degree. He’s got to do something with his life, though. Especially now that he’s with Rick.

Negan’s a passionate guy. When he gets into something, he _gets into it_. Maybe it’s just because he and Rick are still in the very exciting honeymoon stage of their relationship, but Negan’s honestly thinking about all the things he could do for Rick. To have enough money one day to take him on a vacation or buy him something nice...to see those pale blue eyes widen with shock and excitement…it’s corny, but Negan doesn’t care. How long’s it been since his last relationship, anyway?

He’s not going to go so far as to say there’s a fire lit under his ass or anything, but he definitely wants to get his life together right now. And if things keep working out between himself and Rick, he’s going to keep wanting to do so. Rick’s working his ass off to get an education for his career, so Negan can do the same.

Turns out that finding a topic is more easily said than done, though, so Negan casts aside his English homework for now, until he can bounce the topics off of Rick and see if one stands out to him. Jesus, it’s been so long since the two men actually studied together.

Psychology is actually pretty fun. Negan enjoys it. It’s definitely a lot more technical shit and textbook studying than he’d been ready for, but it beats the hard work that came with history and biology classes. Fuck Punnett Squares. Negan really did not need to study that shit.

Either way, he’s not having a particularly hard time with Psychology, and he finds himself studying for hours on it. He’s far more caught up with it than he expected to be by the time the afternoon hours wear into early evening and the door swings open to welcome Rick back inside.

He looks exhausted, and immediately disappointed by the heat in the apartment.

“…Jesus, it’s hot.” Rick groans.

“Yeah,” Negan agrees, pulling his reading glasses off to greet the other man. After saving his progress on his assignment, he flips the computer shut. “If our shitass landlord is right though, we’ve only got one more day of suffering left.”

“True,” Rick nods. “And we’ve gotten this far. Just gotta tough it out one night.”

Negan flashes the other man a grin. “That’s the spirit, baby. All else fails, we sneak ourselves another late-night swim to cool off.”

“Can’t,” Rick answers surprisingly quickly. “I knew you were gonna say somethin’ like that, so I went to see what time the pool closes. They’ve got it drained so they can clean it.”

“How fucking convenient.” Negan doesn’t look impressed, but his tone gives off a stronger sense of irritation than he actually feels. He and Rick have been able to figure shit out for almost a week now. Surely, they can survive one more day.

“It’s alright, Negan.” Rick sighs as he sheds his clothing, stripping down to his boxers. “We can handle this. In the meantime, I’m gonna go take a cold shower.”

“You know,” Negan comments amidst a smirk, watching as Rick stops in front of the hallway to listen, “I thought about taking one myself a few days back.” At the time, he had shot the idea down in his own mind because he was afraid he wouldn’t feel cool after he got out of the shower and stepped into the heat of their apartment once more. But if Rick’s gonna take one…

“You can take one with me.”

Ahh, there it is. Negan knew that was coming. The thing is, after their little encounter early this morning next to a passed-out Javier Garcia, Rick and Negan have been either too busy with school or work or overwhelmed by the intense heat to do more than exchange a chaste kiss or two. Beneath the cold shower spray, that has all kinds of potential to be a different story, and considering how intimate Rick and Negan have been with one another over the course of the past couple of nights, Negan knows they’re both undeniably starved for affection.

And Negan’s not gonna lie and say he isn’t flattered by the fact that Rick’s trusting himself with him more and more each day. It makes him giddy like he got everything he wanted for Christmas, or like he won the lottery or some shit.

The sex, if and when it happens, is undoubtedly going to be great. But Rick opening himself up to Negan fully, embracing him so willingly…that’s more than he could ever ask for.

“Can’t say no to that,” Negan finally responds as he pushes himself to his feet.

The shower is hardly big enough for two grown men to fit into, but they’re both so desperate for a little intimacy and the chance to cool down that they’re going to figure it out anyway. It’s a walk-in shower with a sliding door and handrails on the inside. Negan fits snugly in by himself, but he’s burning the fuck up, so he’s gonna make this work. That said, he strips right the fuck down and climbs in like it’s nothing.

Rick, however, hesitates. Negan cocks an eyebrow at him, peering through the open shower door at him.

“C’mon, Rick,” Negan snorts, “I’ve had my hand around your dick. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of me seeing it.”

“I’m not afraid of _shit_ ,” Rick grumbles back in response, though the flush on his face defies his words.

“Whatever,” Negan answers amidst a shrug, “Just get in here, already.”

Despite any hesitance Rick may have had initially, he eventually joins Negan in the shower. Rick’s build is a little smaller, more lean, than Negan’s, so the shower doesn’t feel as cramped as the larger man was initially expecting.

Goddamn, does Rick look good, though. He’s facing Negan, with one hand on the faucet handle behind him, seemingly trying to talk himself into turning it on. Maybe they should have turned the water on before they’d gotten in, but oh well. It’s too late now. In any case, Negan can see all the subtle, toned lines of Rick’s chest, and the slight curve in his hips, dipping down into a pretty admirable view of the cock Negan just knows Rick was afraid to show off. His thighs are as subtly muscular as his chest and abdomen. He’s gorgeous in every sense of the word, and Negan finds himself wondering how in the hell he got so fucking lucky.

“Are you gonna turn it on?” He questions with a laugh.

“Yeah,” Rick nods. “It’s just…it’s gonna be cold as hell.”

“Well, it’s hot as hell right now, so…”

What Negan doesn’t account for is the fact that the shower head is faced directly at him, and no matter how hot it is in their apartment, ice cold water is going to be shocking when it first comes into contact with sweaty, heat-flushed skin.

Rick grins playfully at him—that little fucker—as he uses the hand behind him to wrench the water on, and Negan has all of a split second to realize that he’s about to freeze his fucking dick off, before an intense barrage of refrigerator-temperature water hits him square in the face and on the chest.

He doesn’t give a flying fuck how ridiculous he looks, because _holy fucking mother of fuck, that’s cold_. All that matters is attempting to get out from under that freezing-ass-cold water. He squeals like a goddamn pig, curses more times than he can count, and then swings sideways, damn near slipping in the process, and tries his best to pin himself against the wall away from the shower spray.

Rick’s yowling with laughter.

“ _Fuck, fuck, fuck!_ ” Negan roars, still attempting to dodge the shower spray. “Less cold, goddamn it, make it less cold!”

“I’m tryin’!” Rick all but cries with laughter. “Gotta wait for the water to warm up!”

“You think this is funny?” Negan imagines he looks like a house cat attempting to escape a rainstorm right now, as his wide eyes lock on Rick’s. “You get over here, then.” He makes no hesitation in seizing his partner by the shoulders and urging said partner toward the shower spray. Negan himself makes his escape and takes refuge by the faucet handle.

“Jesus, that’s cold!” Rick yelps, stumbling away and backing himself against the wall not unlike Negan had just seconds ago.

“I fucking _told_ you!” Despite the argument, Negan’s laughing right along with Rick. They’re both freezing, waiting for the chill to grow less unbearable, but they’re also giggling like it’s the funniest thing in the world. Even as the ice cold water becomes lukewarm water, and Negan switches it to actual _warm_ water, they’re laughing.

Negan practically dives for the new shower spray, letting the water soak his hair. He doesn’t care that the normally-slicked-back locks fall into his face and send water pouring down over his eyes and nose and mouth. He’s laughing, swallowing bits of warm water in the process, and therefore unaware of Rick’s presence until it’s right in front of him.

“Hey, share!” Rick demands, and even though Negan can’t see Rick right now, he can feel the other man’s body not even a foot away. No doubt the shower water’s got his much-longer hair all in his eyes and obscuring his face even more.

And they’re still laughing. Like this is the craziest, funnest thing in the universe, they’re practically doubled over. It isn’t until the laughter starts to ebb away that Negan uses his hands to push the water and hair out of his face and opens his eyes.

He finds himself face-to-face with a wide-eyed Rick Grimes. The smaller man is staring right into Negan’s eyes, lips hanging open and water coursing over his face and through his hair, which he seems to have also slicked back out of his eyes.

And for a second, they’re just gawking at each other like that. Blue eyes on hazel ones, mouths gaping, the shower spray guiding them along like a metronome. The pounding of the water on the shower wall intensifies, and it sounds like it grows louder with each passing second, before it becomes too much to bear.

They both react simultaneously. Rick and Negan gasp sharply in unison, before Rick’s hands are on Negan’s face and Negan’s arms are around Rick’s shoulders, and their lips are coming together in a rough, hungry kiss.

Even Negan’s motor mouth doesn’t seem to want to interrupt the moment. He doesn’t speak as he and Rick draw ever closer, hips and tongues and chests and teeth bumping together. He can’t get enough, even as his tongue seeks out Rick’s and his hands grope at the skin of his shoulders desperately. Their bodies are slick as they move together, and Negan doesn’t protest when Rick shoves him up against the wall and kisses him with all he has.

The shower wall, despite the gentle assault of the now-warm water, is cool against Negan’s back and draws out a moan from him that vibrates into the open-mouthed kiss he and Rick are currently engaged in.

When the kiss breaks, they’re both out of breath. Rick’s lips are swollen and red from how hungrily they’d attacked Negan’s mouth, and his chest heaves as he works to return a normal air supply to his lungs. There’s a flicker of _something_ in Rick’s eyes, before he offers Negan a nod of the head.

And Negan knows exactly what it means. He knows Rick’s giving him the green light to take things to the next level. Hell, he’s probably wanted to for longer than just now. It makes Negan wonder how far they would have gotten this morning if Javi hadn’t been right fucking there. Not that it matters now, because they’ve got nothing to distract them anymore. Javi is at home, nursing a wicked hangover, and Rick and Negan only have to worry about how long the water is going to stay warm.

Negan nods back, before he sweeps in and reclaims Rick’s lips with his own. He lingers, hands cupping either side of his partner’s face. He knows his grip is perhaps a little on the firm side, but _god,_ he loves kissing this man. Rick’s subtle most of the times when he kisses back, but his passion comes in the way he’s breathing or leaning or where his hands are. Right now, they’re on Negan’s shoulders, waiting to see what the next move is.

Said next move is for Negan’s kisses to drift downward. He shifts to the corner of Rick’s mouth, pressing a kiss there, before he sucks and bites gently along the smaller man’s jaw and throat. He pays special attention to Rick’s collarbone, and he’s rewarded with a low, keening moan.

Negan keeps going. His tongue and lips and teeth make a trail along the water already running down Rick’s chest. His hands, which have gradually been traversing Rick’s shoulders and arms during his descent, stop at his ribs, gripping appreciatively, while he drags his tongue over one of his partner’s nipples.

Rick’s hands find Negan’s hair, and they’re like a soothing massage against the wet strands as Negan closes his lips around the smaller man’s nipple, swirling his tongue around it. He’s rewarded with a quivering, breathy groan from Rick, who arches his chest up against the feeling.

God, Negan loves the way this man tastes. It’s a mixture of the water and the taste of Rick’s skin and the heat rising off his flesh that has Negan going crazy. If Rick were to look down right now, he’d probably be able to tell how much Negan wants him.

For now, though, he drops to his knees slowly, his mouth continuing its journey down Rick’s torso. Gently, he nibbles at a spot just below his partner’s navel, eliciting yet another moan. Once he’s crouched in front of Rick, he turns his head up to look at him.

“Tell me if I need to stop…okay, baby?” Negan requests, and he’s rewarded with a shaky, flustered nod from Rick. The younger man’s fingers have yet to leave Negan’s hair.

Negan takes in the sight of his new boyfriend. Rick’s already half-hard for him, his cock a little pink from the arousal. Negan curls his fingers around the base, before offering a long stroke all the way up to the tip, his thumb paying special attention to the underside and then the sensitive flesh right beneath the head. He feels Rick’s grip on his hair tighten, and enjoys the way the other man’s shaft twitches more into fullness under the influence of Negan’s fingers.

“I’m gonna make your head spin, Rick…” Negan warns, flashing a facetious smirk up toward his boyfriend’s face. “So if you need to sit down, say so now or forever hold your fucking peace…”

Rick shakes his head. “No…I’m fine, Negan. Just do it, already.” The impatience is a whole extra layer of frosting on the arousal cake. Negan’s cock aches for attention between his legs, but he also longs fervently to have Rick in his mouth, so he can wait.

“Do _what_?” Negan questions, even though he knows exactly what Rick’s asking of him. He gives him another teasing stroke, and when the gentle pressure urges a small dribble of pre-come from Rick’s tip, Negan dips in and flicks his tongue out to have a taste.

Rick’s hold tightens once more on Negan’s hair. “You know what I want, Negan…” His voice comes out almost as a whine, but Negan can hear him trying to reel it in.

“I do,” Negan admits, licking his lips. “But I want to hear you say it. Talk to me, baby…tell me what you want.”

Thinking about it, Negan hasn’t even ventured to ask Rick if he’s ever had sex before. With a face and a body as pretty as he’s got, Negan doubts he’s not been intimate _ever_ , but now that he’s about to put this guy’s dick in his mouth, he can’t help but wonder. He’ll definitely be asking later. Right now, though, he stares patiently up at his boyfriend and waits for a response.

Rick hesitates, but Negan finally pulls an answer out of him when he swirls his tongue around the head of the smaller man’s cock.

“Jesus, Negan…” Rick uses his grip on Negan’s hair to pull him closer. “I need you to suck my dick…c’mon…”

The desperation in the words vibrates clear from Negan’s eardrums, down to his chest, and all the way to his already full-mast erection, eliciting a grunt of delight from the older man’s lips. “ _Fuck me, Rick_ , you should talk like that more often…” After that, he doesn’t give Rick a chance to retort. In a display of the eagerness he’s been trying to keep under control, Negan caves in and sucks Rick’s erection right into his mouth. He pays some attention to the head, his tongue swirling and exploring, before he bobs down and takes in more of him.

And _god,_ does he love it. Rick’s trying to stifle moans in shaky inhales and exhales, but he’s failing miserably, and Negan’s going to town on him. He likes how thick and full Rick’s erection is as he pushes down to swallow in as much of him as he can take. It’s an interesting challenge, not choking himself on the other man, and god, does it feel good. Negan can tell Rick’s working hard to avoid thrusting his hips forward, but he almost wishes the smaller man would cave in and just start fucking his mouth.

To get the point across, Negan curls his hands up and grasps Rick’s ass, pulling him in closer. He gags a bit and then backs off. When he pulls off of Rick’s now bright-red cock, he’s panting. His tongue slips out from between his own swollen lips, dragging languidly along the upper one.

“You like that?” Negan flashes a snarky grin up toward Rick, who looks pretty much gone right now.

“Yeah...” He all but whimpers. “Keep goin’, Negan…”

“You got it, baby.” Negan smiles almost fondly at the sight before him, nibbling at his lip. “Don’t fucking be afraid to show me how much you like it.”

Rick nods his head, and Negan sweeps in again. This time, he brings his hands straight up to Rick’s ass and gives him a series of hearty squeezes. Rick’s moaning shamelessly at this point, and his hands have shifted to the hair on either side of Negan’s head, gripping tightly. Rick gives in and makes no effort to stop the harsh thrusting of his hips forward against Negan’s mouth.

_‘Atta boy…_

Appreciatively, Negan brings a hand down to Rick’s balls, gently rolling them against his fingers as Rick’s hips snap forward. There’s no real rhythm at this point—just Negan trying to meet Rick’s thrusts with his own movements, his arms eventually lowering to curl around his partner’s thighs, and then the hitch in Rick’s already-shaky breathing that tells Negan he’s about to come.

And he does. Heat spills across the back of Negan’s throat, and as he pulls back and swallows most of it down, the rest of Rick’s release finds its way onto the larger man’s neck and chest. The water makes quick work of washing it down off his skin and onto the shower floor.

When Negan looks up at Rick again, he finds that the other man looks like his eyes might roll back in his head any minute. A low chuckle escapes Negan upon seeing this.

“When’s the last time you let someone suck you off, Rick?”

Rick laughs dryly from above Negan, but doesn’t respond. Instead, he releases his grip on his partner’s hair and cups the side of his head, gently urging him up.

Once Negan’s at his feet, they’re kissing again. Negan can feel Rick’s hand trailing along his chest, moving down past his abdomen, but before Rick can go too far, Negan catches his wrist. Reluctantly, he breaks off the kiss.

“Much as I’d like you to return the favor,” Negan starts, his voice heavy and thick with arousal, “I’m not ready to quit yet, and you’ve just about got me at my limit. Now, feel free to tell me to fuck off here, but…” He slowly spins Rick around until he’s got the smaller man facing the wall. He places a hand on either of Rick’s shoulders, dragging his fingers down along the wet skin, tracing the subtle muscles of his arms and to the smaller man’s hands, where he laces his fingers with Rick’s. Using that hold, he brings those hands up and props them against the shower wall, before settling in behind Rick and rocking his hips slowly against him. His very obvious hard-on grazes the cleft of Rick’s ass.

“I really want to fuck you.” Negan follows the words with a hot, deliberate kiss to the nape of Rick’s neck.

Rick arches his back and rocks his body down in time with Negan’s movements. A moan spills from his lips, and with the way he lets his head fall back, hands all propped up on the shower wall, he looks good enough to eat. Negan could come on the sight alone.

“Christ, Negan…” Rick manages around a shaky sigh.

“That feel nice?” Negan can’t help but ask as he releases one of Rick’s hands and curls his arm around the smaller man’s waist, pulling him back against him. He offers another deliberate roll of the hips, letting his cock slide between those delicious ass cheeks a bit this time. “You like knowing what you do to me, Rick? How fucking crazy you drive me?”

Rick outright moans. “…Negan…”

“…Say it,” Negan orders as he sucks Rick’s earlobe into his mouth. “I’m all ears.”

This time, Rick doesn’t hesitate. He backs up from the wall and leans into Negan’s chest, letting his head roll back onto his partner’s shoulder. Tipping his chin up, Rick presses a kiss to Negan’s jaw. He pulls the larger man’s other arm around his waist and then lets his eyes fall shut.

“I want you to fuck me, Negan. I’m gettin’ hard all over again thinkin’ about it.”

Now, it’s Negan’s turn to moan. He does so as his nails dig lightly into the skin of Rick’s toned abdomen. “Baby...I’m gonna make you feel so good…”

And that’s how they end up clambering awkwardly out of the shower they hadn’t even officially started on, making out shamelessly at every little turn leading to Negan’s room. On the way out of the bathroom, Rick shoves Negan up against the hallway wall and kisses him hard, and Negan’s hands come up into Rick’s hair in a rough grip. He nips at his boyfriend’s lower lip, before using the grip his fingers have on Rick’s hair to whip them around and push the smaller man up against the wall instead.

Their bodies are still slick from the shower, but when Negan hefts one of Rick’s legs up around his waist and Rick reciprocates in kind by bringing the other up with it and then throwing his arms around Negan’s shoulders, they somehow manage to achieve the glorious status of Negan holding Rick up against the wall, his tongue down the smaller man’s throat and hips snapping forward in a shameless and needy session of rough dry-humping. Rick’s arousal is growing more pronounced between their slick bodies, and when Negan feels the fullness sliding along both their stomachs, he lets out a deep, rattling laugh into the kiss.

“Goddamn, Rick…” Negan moans against Rick’s lips.

Rick damn near whines at that. “…Want you so much right now, Negan.”

Somehow, Negan carries Rick the rest of the way to the bedroom. He might have chosen the cooler living room, with its functional box fan and open window, but the lube is in his bedroom, so that’s where he’s going to go.

Not that Rick seems to mind. As Negan tosses him onto the mattress and then collapses atop him, the smaller man groans and curls his arms around Negan’s lower back, pulling him down more atop him. Negan ruts his hips into Rick’s, and Rick thanks him by sinking his teeth into his shoulder.

“Fuck me, Negan.”

Goddamn, does Rick sound good right now. It doesn’t take long for Negan to work up the inspiration to reach for the lube in his bedside table, coat his fingers, and have two of them deep inside Rick’s body.

Rick’s a damn mess…so unlike himself, with the way he surrenders to his inhibitions and bucks down onto the fingers fucking him. Negan twists his wrist, curls his fingers, and Rick groans impatiently as a surge of pleasure makes his body convulse around Negan’s fingers. Rick’s hard as diamonds all over again, dick beet red against the somewhat flushed skin of his stomach in a growing pool of pre-come, while he arches his back and glares down at Negan through an arousal-wracked face. His expression is a silent demand for more, more, _more._

Negan thinks he might pass out from the lack of oxygen to his brain if he doesn’t hurry, so he obliges happily at this point. He pulls his fingers out, grasps with shaky fingers at the bottle of lube, and coats himself generously. Rick yanks him down for a chaste kiss, before he shifts himself further down, closer to Negan, and opens himself up to the larger man.

“Fuck… _Rick._ ” Negan curses as he lifts one of Rick’s legs up over his shoulder. Rick brings the other one around Negan’s waist, urging him along, and Negan uses a hand to guide himself to Rick’s entrance. He presses the tip of his dick forward just a little, licking his lips. “You’re a man after my fucking heart.”

“I’d better be,” Rick retorts breathily.

_Oh god, Rick. You really fucking are. More than you’ll ever know._

Negan doesn’t hesitate at that point. Much to his and Rick’s relief, he pushes inside, moving slowly and carefully, until he can feel his hips against Rick’s thighs. Thighs, by the way, Negan can’t help but admire while he waits for the other man to adjust. He trails his fingers along the leg over his shoulder, nails grazing the pale skin of Rick’s upper thigh, before he runs a flat palm up onto his lover’s stomach and curls his fingers around his cock. He gives Rick a few haphazard strokes.

“Rick, baby…you okay?” He asks. Rick’s got his head pressed back into the mattress, his mouth hanging open. His chest is rising and falling with quick, shaky breaths. It’s difficult to tell what he’s thinking.

“I’m fine,” Rick nods slowly, before he lets those gorgeous blue eyes flutter open again. “Keep goin’.”

“Rick…” Negan actually feels a little concerned, but Rick shakes his head.

“Don’t stop, Negan,” The smaller man demands. “Please, don’t stop…”

Negan can’t tell if Rick says it that way because he knows it’s going to strike all the right chords in the older man, but damn…And on top of that, Rick’s got his hands over his head, mouth hanging open, and eyes looking so very fucking needy and desperate that he’d be a damned fool to stop there.

“You keep talking like that,” Negan warns, as he rocks himself backward, pulling out almost all the way, “and you’ll be on your fucking own, because my ass will be over here seeing stars.”

Rick doesn’t speak. He just waits for Negan to push himself in again, and then as his hands slide down along the bedsheets until he’s got them in tight fists on either side of his own body, he bears down to help Negan start up a pattern.

Before either of them know it, they’ve got a steady rhythm going. Each movement is so deliberate, from the way Negan starts his thrusts up in his shoulders and lets them ripple down into his hips, to how Rick’s body lifts up just slightly from the mattress every time Negan fucks into him. They’re both lost for words at this point. Negan’s trying to focus on how good Rick looks below him, while Rick’s got himself propped up on his forearms and hips rocking down to meet Negan’s thrusts.

The bedroom is hotter than the rest of the apartment right now, and probably not just because of the sex. Negan’s room is at the very back of their apartment, after all. Either way, the heat and the fluid movements of their bodies together has both men sweating, but neither seem to mind. Negan’s head is spinning in the best way possible, and when he manages a glance downward at Rick, he sees that the smaller man isn’t far off.

“Touch yourself for me, baby…” Negan pleads, peering down at Rick through the haze of pleasure almost completely overshadowing his vision. He’s legitimately starting to think he might black out.

“Negan…” Rick meets Negan’s eyes with foggy blue ones of his own. “I’m so close.”

“I know, Rick…me too.” Negan snaps his hips forward desperately, moaning Rick’s name as he does so. “You’re fucking perfect…so goddamn perfect.”

Faintly, he thinks he sees Rick obey his request, but as sparks of pleasure finally illuminate at the base of his spine and erupt across his body, Negan can’t focus on anything. His thrusts suddenly grow harsh and erratic, and he swears he hears Rick groan his name as is orgasm washes over him, spilling right into Rick’s body.

Negan’s vision comes back just in time to see Rick stroke out the last wave of his own climax, little pinpricks of white painted across his stomach and chest. He’s panting hard now, his entire chest and stomach as red as his softening erection, but once he sees that Negan’s looking at him, he drops his legs to the mattress, withdraws Negan from his body, and tugs him down atop him once more.

They’re both sticky with sweat and come, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is the way their mouths are moving together, and how good Rick’s fingers feel combing through Negan’s hair, and how even though they’re completely spent, their bodies are still rocking against one another. Negan trails his hands up along Rick’s sides, silently appreciating the lean outline of his partner’s body, before he kisses down to Rick’s neck, up along his jaw, back to his lips, and then pulls away.

“Welp,” he jokes, smiling that facetious smile he wears so well, “guess we got another reason to try this fucking cold shower shit out again, huh?”

“I’m sure we don’t have a choice by now, anyway,” Rick laughs. His voice is shaky with euphoria, and Negan finds it difficult not to lean down and kiss him all over again. “Water’s probably gone cold.”

Silence falls over the room, and both men become aware of the fact that in their quick retreat to Negan’s room, they hadn’t even bothered to turn the faucet off. The shower is still running.

They both burst out laughing, and once Negan can convince his legs to walk again, he tugs Rick to his feet and leads him back into a shower that they both find soothing, now.

Somehow, they don’t even care about their hot-ass apartment anymore. It doesn’t matter when their shower is finished and they’re curled up on the couch in the living room together, with Rick poring over Negan’s subject list for his English class. It’s hot as hell, but Rick still sits between Negan’s legs, with his back to his boyfriend’s chest, and as he makes suggestions, Negan traces little circles on his shoulder.

It’s still hot as fuck, but Negan feels like he and Rick conquered it. The sun is starting to set, and soon, it’s not going to be so bad. In the morning, he’ll pay his landlord a visit, and hopefully by that afternoon, they’ll have air conditioning.

Can’t go wrong with that.

This week has been hell in terms of trying to survive, but as Negan kisses Rick’s temple and watches the younger man circle a particularly compelling topic on the list, he thinks he definitely got something good out of it. After all, how long would it have taken them to decide to go and do things together if they hadn’t been so desperate to escape their apartment?

Probably long enough for Javier to get impatient and bring it to their attention, himself.

\--- --- --- --- ---

“You look like you’re in a good mood.” Javier’s observant, but Negan knows he probably looks like he’s had the best day of his life. His air conditioning is back, he and Rick have established that they’re now in a relationship, and it’s actually a pretty relaxed day here at the convenience store. He’s got the case freshly stocked with foods, and seeing as the customer flow isn’t super high right now, he decides to enjoy a few moments out talking with his best friend and favorite cashier.

“You bet your ass, I am,” Negan responds, flashing Javi a grin. “My apartment doesn’t feel like a sauna anymore. And that penny-pinching ballbag sucker of a landlord may be cheap as shit, but he picked a good unit this time. Almost feels like a new apartment. You should come enjoy it some time.”

“Maybe,” There’s something in Javi’s grin—something Negan can’t quite read. “We’ll see. How’s Rick?”

“He’s alright,” Negan brushes his curiosity aside in favor of the new topic. “It’s almost finals week, so he’s stressing about that shit a little. Nothing a little TL-fucking-C can’t fix, though.”

Just then, the door swings open, and Rick Grimes comes striding in, all decked out in that sexy-ass security guard uniform of his. He looks tired.

“Thought you were off today,” Negan wonders aloud.

Rick shakes his head. “Someone called in. They’re askin’ me to cover.”

Negan leans against the counter as he watches Rick fix himself a fountain drink. “That’s some horseshit.”

“We could use the money,” Rick answers, ever the logical one. He approaches the counter as Javi rings him up. Negan’s right next to the register, so Rick stops right in front of his boyfriend after he pays. “Don’t worry, though. I’m stayin’ home all day tomorrow to study for finals. I’m not goin’ anywhere that day.”

“Good,” Negan smirks. “I’ll make it up to you.”

He swears he hears Javi cringe next to him as he and Rick share a long kiss across the counter, but he doesn’t care. He’s never going to get enough of Rick Grimes, and Javier Garcia can wait a goddamn second for that reason alone.

But when a cigarette box collides with his head, Negan breaks away from the kiss in record time. “Oww! What the actual _fuck_ , Javi!?”

Javier just crosses his arms over his chest, grinning smugly. “ _That’s_ for macking on your boyfriend with me right next to you guys the other night.”

Rick looks horrified. Negan just laughs.

“And don’t ever question my aim again.” Javi adds as an afterthought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is it the porn chapter is longer than half of the rest of the fic?
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this work! I wouldn't be writing without you. <3


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